1 


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OF 

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AN  EXPLORER  IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE 


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AN  EXPLORER  IN  THE 
AIR  SERVICE 

BY 

HIRAM  BINGHAM 

FORMERLY  LIEUTENANT-COLONEL,  AIR  SERVICE,  U.  S.  A. 


NEW  HAVEN 

YALE  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 

LONDON  :   HUMPHREY  MILFORD,  OXFORD  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 

MDCCCCXX 


COPYRIGHT,  1920,  BY  YALE  UNIVERSITY  PRESS. 


D.  B.  UPDIKE,  THE  MERRYMOUNT  PRESS,  BOSTON. 


£ng)arering 
Library 

U(aOb> 


TO 

ANNIE  OLIVIA  TIFFANY  MITCHELL 

IN  TOKEN  OF  AFFECTION 

AND  GRATITUDE 


CONTENTS 

PREFACE  xi 

I  FIRST  FLIGHTS  3 

II  TORONTO  AND  THE  ROYAL  FLYING  CORPS  14 

III  WAR  FEVER  IN  WASHINGTON  23 

IV  ORGANIZING  THE  SCHOOLS  OF  MILITARY  AERONAUTICS        33 
V  SELECTING  THE  FITTEST  47 

VI  THE  PERSONNEL  OFFICE  IN  WASHINGTON  56 

VII  OVERSEAS  71 

VIII  THE  DISADVANTAGES  OF  BEING  A  PILOT  78 

IX  THE  PERSONNEL  OFFICE  IN  TOURS  92 

X  A  FEW  HOURS  AT  THE  FRONT  107 

XI  THE  THIRD  AVIATION  INSTRUCTION  CENTRE  116 

XII  TRAINING  AVIATORS  126 

XIII  ADVANCED  TRAINING  FOR  PURSUIT  PDLOTS  143 

XIV  OBSERVATION  AND  NIGHT  PURSUIT  170 
XV  THE  "PLANE  NEWS"  180 

XVI  THE  ENGINEERING  DEPARTMENT  190 

XVII  IMPORTANT  ACCESSORIES  199 

XVIII  SHOULD  THE  GENERAL  STAFF  CONTROL  THE  AIR  SERVICE?  217 

XIX  THE  FUTURE  OF  AVIATION  231 

APPENDIX  247 


527015 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Facing  page 

Field  9 :  Frontispiece 

Third  Aviation  Instruction  Centre,  Issoudun,  France 

Miami :  Accident  8 

Issoudun :  8 
Major  Du  Mesnil  of  the  French  Army  decorating  Cafitain 
R.  S.  Davis  of  Field  7  with  the  Croix  de  Guerre 

In  event  of  motor  failing  don't  turn  back  16 

Landings  should  be  made  against  -wind  24 

An  Instructional  Poster  32 
Typical  of  many  received  from  the  Royal  Flying  Cor/is 

Nieuport  28-7,  Monosoupape  motor  40 

Nieuport  27-7,  120  H.P.  Le  Rhone  motor  40 

Morane-Saulnier  Monoplane,  type  30,  Monosoupape  motor  46 

Spad,  225  H.P.  Hispano-Suiza  motor  46 

Redressing  too  high  and  stalling  causes  "pancaking"  54 

Danger  of  landing  -with  wind — results  of  overshooting  70 

Issoudun:  Field  8  «         78 

Nieuport  80,  23-meter,  80  H.P.  Le  Rhone  motor  84 

Avro,  110  H.P.  Le  Rhone  motor  84 

Two  of  our  Best  Squadrons  98 

Formation  Flying:  Taking-off  108 

Formation  Flying:  Group  108 

Map  of  the  Third  Aviation  Instruction  Centre  116 

General  HarborcTs  Arrival  at  Issoudun  122 

Issoudun:  Field  7  128 

Field  2 :  Instructor  and  Student  starting  on  a  lesson  134 

Field  2 :  Nieuport  81,  23-meter,  80  H.P.  Le  Rhone  motor  134 

Spiral  142 

Vrille  or  Spin  144 


x  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Vertical  Vtrage  146 

Renversement  148 

Wing  Slip  150 

Method  of  Forming  152 

Right  Angle  or  Cross-over  Turn  156 

Taylor  Stunt  158 

Luf  berry  Shoxv  160 

View  of  part  of  Field  10  and  a  D.  H.-4-,  Liberty  motor  170 

Used  on  Night  Flying:  Soprvith  Camel  174 

Nieuport  33,  18-meter,  80  H.P.  Le  Rhone  motor  174 

Plane  News  (October  9,  1918)  180 

Field  9'*  Team  in  the  Plane  Assembling  Competition:  184 

End  of  Part  I,  Wings  removed  and  packed  Plane  ready 
for  shipment  on  truck 

Plane  Assembling  Competition:  184 

Field  8'«  Team  half  through  Part  II,  reassembling  the  Plane 

Plane  Assembling  Competition:  186 

Part  II,  reassembling  the  Plane 

Plane  Assembling  Competition:  186 

End  of  Part  III,  taking  out  the  Motor 

Plane  Assembling  Competition:  188 

Beginning  of  Part  IV,  putting  the  Motor  back  in  position 

Plane  Assembling  Competition:  188 

Cheering  the  winning  team  from  Field  14 

Issoudun:  196 

Assembly  and  Repair  Hangars  on  the  Main  Field 

Issoudun:  204 

The  Main  Barracks,  the"Y,"  the  Red  Cross,  and  the  Quar- 
termaster Buildings 

Issoudun:  Foreground  204 

Plane  News  (November  11,  1918)  214 


PREFACE 

THE  writer  began  to  fly  at  Miami  in  March, 
1917;  was  on  duty  at  Aviation  Headquarters 
in  Washington  from  the  first  of  May,  1917,  until 
the  first  of  April,  1918;  was  then  on  duty  with  the 
Chief  of  Air  Service  in  the  A.  E.  F.  until  the  latter 
part  of  August,  1918;  was  in  command  of  the  Third 
Aviation  Instruction  Centre,  Issoudun,  until  Christ- 
mas, 1 91 8 ;  and,  on  return  to  Washington,  was  again 
on  duty  at  headquarters  until  March,  1919. 

This  book  is  a  record  of  observations  made  during 
those  two  years,  and  is  concerned  chiefly  with  avi- 
ation training.  It  is  hoped  that  it  will  be  of  interest  to 
those  who  were  in  the  Air  Service  and  their  friends, 
besides  being  of  some  assistance  to  future  students 
of  military  aeronautics.  To  many  of  the  pilots  it  may 
explain  the  reasons  for  some  of  the  sufferings  which 
they  endured.  It  may  serve  also  as  a  warning  of 
the  evil  of  unpreparedness.  Nearly  all  of  the  errors, 
mistakes,  and  delays  to  which  it  refers  might  have 
been  avoided,  had  the  American  people  insisted  on 
having  their  representatives  in  Congress  make  suit- 
able preparation  for  an  adequate  army  and  a  well- 
equipped  Air  Service  in  the  event  of  our  being  thrown 
into  the  World  War. 


xii  PREFACE 

It  may  fairly  be  said  that  the  Air  Service  was  a 
genuine  expression  of  the  "  American  Idea/'  defined 
by  Strunsky  in  one  of  his  charming  essays  as  "splen- 
did courage  accompanied  by  a  high  degree  of  dis- 
order." We  lacked  men  of  experience;  we  lacked 
aviators  of  mature  judgment;  we  lacked  able  exec- 
utive officers  with  a  sympathetic  knowledge  of  avia- 
tion ;  we  lacked  airplanes  fit  to  fly  against  the  Huns ; 
and  we  lacked  facilities  for  building  them.  The  air- 
plane industry  was  still  in  the  experimental  stage. 
No  one  really  manufactured  airplanes  in  the  gener- 
ally accepted  sense  of  that  word.  No  one  had  even 
had  any  experience  in  the  quantity  production  of 
airplane  motors.  Yet  in  July,  191 7,  Congress  appro- 
priated ^640,000,000,  in  the  fond  expectation  that 
before  many  months  we  could  obtain  22,000  air- 
planes. In  other  words,  America  expected  to  win 
the  war  in  the  air  and  was  utterly  unprepared  to  do 
so.  The  American  people  laid  an  impossible  task  on 
the  shoulders  of  the  officers  and  citizens  who  obedi- 
ently undertook  to  produce  on  a  gigantic  scale,  and 
without  adequate  plans,  one  of  the  most  difficult  arms 
of  modern  warfare. 

There  is  no  question  but  that  the  Air  Service  suf- 
fered because  of  its  newness  and  because  it  was 


PREFACE  xiii 

expected  to  grow  in  such  an  incredibly  short  time 
from  a  relatively  insignificant  part  of  the  regular 
army  to  a  force  more  than  twice  as  large  as  that 
army  was  before  1917. 

When  we  entered  the  war,  the  Air  Service  had 
2  small  flying  fields,  48  officers,  1330  men,  and  225 
planes,  not  one  of  which  was  fit  to  fly  over  the  lines. 
In  the  course  of  a  year  and  a  half  this  Air  Service 
grew  to  50  flying  fields,  20,500  officers,  175,000 
men,  and  17,000  planes.  It  was  my  good  fortune  to 
witness  this  growth  at  close  range,  particularly  as 
regards  the  flying  personnel. 

Among  the  many  officers  and  men  whose  devo- 
tion to  the  cause  of  their  country  led  them  to  help  me 
with  all  their  strength  in  the  work  in  which  we  hap- 
pened to  be  engaged  together  were:  Major  J.  Robert 
Moulthrop,  whose  long  interest  in  military  history 
and  whose  natural  tact  and  excellent  judgment  made 
his  assistance  in  conducting  the  Schools  of  Military 
Aeronautics  of  inestimable  value;  Colonel  W.  E. 
Gilmore,  who  bore  the  brunt  of  the  attack  when 
I  was  Chief  of  Air  Personnel  in  Washington,  and 
who,  with  large-hearted  generosity,  gave  freely 
from  the  wisdom  acquired  in  his  twenty  years  of  ser- 
vice in  the  regular  army ;  Colonel  Walter  G.  Kilner, 


xiv  PREFACE 

whose  ability  as  soldier,  aviator,  and  executive  were 
excelled  only  by  his  loyalty  to  those  who  had  the 
good  fortune  to  serve  under  him  as  I  did ;  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Phil.  A.  Carroll,  a  pioneer  among  Reserve 
Military  Aviators,  whose  friendly  counsel  on  in- 
numerable occasions  helped  me  out  of  many  diffi- 
culties; and  Major  Tom  G.  Lanphier,  former  star 
full-back  at  West  Point,  veteran  of  the  machine  gun 
defence  at  Chateau-Thierry  and  born  flyer,  whose 
faithful  cooperation  as  my  executive  officer  at  Issou- 
dun  was  indispensable  to  success. 

I  only  wish  it  were  possible  to  mention  by  name 
all  of  the  officers  and  men  with  whom,  at  one  time 
or  another,  I  had  the  honor  to  be  associated.  They 
made  me  proud  of  being  an  American.  In  the  face  of 
blind  unpreparedness,  stupendous  obstacles,  and  the 
necessity  for  utmost  haste  they  strove  valiantly  and 
unremittingly  to  make  the  Air  Service  worthy  of 
American  traditions.  Our  chief  regret  was  that  we 

were  not  sent  earlier  into  the  conflict. 

Hiram  Bingham 

Tale  University,  May,  1 9 20 


Acknowledgments  are  gratefully  made  to  their  editors  for  permis- 
sion to  make  use  of  articles  that  have  appeared  in  "  The  U.  S.  Air 
Service"  " Historical  Outlook,"  "  The  Outlook,"  "Aircraft  Journal," 
and "  Asia" 


AN  EXPLORER  IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE 


CHAPTER  I 

FIRST   FLIGHTS 

IN  the  latter  part  of  19 1 6, 1  had  the  opportunity  of  hear- 
ing Mr.  Herbert  Bayard  Swope  of  the  New  York  World 
tell  of  conditions  in  Germany  as  he  had  seen  them  that 
summer.  He  convinced  me  of  several  things  which  had  not 
been  clear  in  the  censored  press  despatches.  One  was  that 
the  British  Navy  had  by  no  means  solved  the  problem  of 
the  German  submarines, although  the  small  number  of  sink- 
ings at  that  time  was  so  interpreted  in  our  newspapers.  A 
corollary  was  that  Germany  was  voluntarily  restraining  her 
piratical  activities  until  such  time  as  she  could  secure  enough 
submarines  to  make  anoverwhelmingdriveon  trans-oceanic 
commerce.  And,  finally,  that  such  a  drive  was  coming  be- 
fore very  long.  This  information  from  such  a  well-posted 
source  led  me  to  the  conclusion,  about  the  first  of  December, 
that  we  should  be  at  war  with  Germany  within  six  months. 
My  next  thought  naturally  was  the  question :  In  what  field 
would  my  training  as  an  explorer  offer  the  best  opportunity 
for  service?  Personal  experience  with  mules,  Spanish  Ameri- 
cans, pack  oxen,  Indians,  ruined  Inca  cities,  and  Andean 
highlands  would  be  of  little  use  in  France! 

A  few  days  later,  a  distinguished  member  of  the  Yale 
Mathematical  Faculty  brought  back  from  a  scientific  meet- 
ing in  Boston  news  regarding  the  remarkable  progress  that 
aviation  was  making  on  the  western  front.  Major-General 
George  O.  Squier,  then  Lieutenant-Colonel  in  the  Signal 


4  AN  EXPLORER 

Corps,  had  just  returned  from  many  months  of  service  as 
American  Military  Attache  with  the  British  Army.  Himself 
a  scientific  investigator  of  the  first  rank — one  of  the  few 
army  officers  to  have  taken  a  Ph.D.  "on  the  side,"  after  grad- 
uating from  West  Point,  and  while  serving  as  a  Second 
Lieutenant  at  an  army  post  not  far  from  Johns  Hopkins 
University — he  had  thrilled  his  hearers  at  the  Boston  meet- 
ing with  a  vivid  account  of  the  hundreds  of  airplanes 
then  in  use,  and  which  the  censor  had  permitted  us  to  learn 
little  or  nothing  about.  General  Squier's  contagious  enthu- 
siasm and  his  remarkable  vision  had  so  infected  my  friend, 
the  mathematician,  that  I  too  caught  the  disease  and  be- 
came a  crank  on  "Winning  the  War  in  the  Air." 

A  fortunate  circumstance  took  me  to  Baltimore  about  this 
time,  where  Professor  J.  S.  Ames  of  Johns  Hopkins,  a  keen 
student  of  aerodynamics,  confirmed  my  belief  that  a  rapid 
development  of  the  Allied  Air  Service  was  the  best  way  to 
defeat  Germany  quickly.  Another  bit  of  good  fortune  enabled 
me  to  go  to  Miami,  Florida,  in  February,  1917,  and  there  to 
talk  with  Glenn  Curtiss,  perhaps  the  most  daringof  all  Ameri- 
can inventors.  His  fondness  for  going  faster  than  anybody 
else — and  his  willingness  to  be  content  with  doing  it  only 
once — had  led  him  to  make  a  remarkable  number  of  records, 
both  on  land  and  sea,  as  well  as  in  the  air.  With  Orville 
Wright,  he  represented  America's  leadership  in  the  early 
development  of  practical  flying.  His  assurance  that  any  one 
who  could  ride  horseback  and  sail  a  boat  could  learn  to  fly, 
and  the  remarkable  record  for  safety  made  by  his  flying 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  5 

boats,  led  me  to  decide  to  attempt  some  flights.  His  statement 
that  there  were  at  that  time  less  than  twenty-five  competent 
flying  instructors  in  the  United  States  seemed  to  open  the 
door  of  opportunity. 

Although  then  forty-one  years  old,  it  seemed  to  me  that 
with  the  experience  I  had  had  in  riding  mules  for  months 
at  a  time  in  Venezuela,  Colombia,  and  Peru,  there  was  some 
hope  that  the  new  field  of  exploration  might  not  prove  too  dif- 
ficult, especially  as  I  have  also  always  been  fond  of  sailing. 
My  first  flight  was  on  March  3.  The  roar  of  the  engine  and 
the  terrific  wind  pressure  encountered  in  sitting  out  in  front 
on  the  old  F  type  flying  boat  spoiled  the  pleasure  and  nearly 
overcame  the  thrill  of  that  first  experience.  For  two  weeks 
I  took  frequent  flights  with  Harold  Kantner  over  the  beau- 
tiful waters  of  Biscayne  Bay.  Kantner's  skill  as  pilot,  and 
the  experience  which  he  had  gained  during  the  months  that 
he  had  been  employed  in  teaching  flying  in  the  Italian  Navy, 
gave  me  great  confidence  in  his  ability.  Nevertheless,!  looked 
with  envy  on  the  more  speedy  army  planes.  On  March  17, 1 
had  my  first  ride  in  a  land  machine,  a  JN-4,  piloted  by  Roger 
Jannus.  For  a  time  I  took  lessons  on  both  land  and  water, 
but  after  about  ten  hours'  work  in  the  flying  boat,  gave  it  up 
for  "military  tractors,"  as  we  called  them  then. 

The  report  of  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  National 
Advisory  Committee  for  Aeronautics,  published  about  this 
time  by  Dr.  Charles  D.  Walcott,  gave  me  the  information 
that  larger  plans  were  being  made  for  aeronautics  in  the 
army  than  in  the  navy.  The  army  had  more  room  for  be- 


6  AN  EXPLORER 

ginners,  so  my  first  idea  of  going  in  for  sea-plane  flying  was 
given  up  in  order  to  learn  all  I  could  about  military,  as  dis- 
tinguished from  naval,  aeronautics. 

Fortunately,  theCurtiss  Company  had  established  a  school 
near  Miami,  where  some  forty  or  fifty  Sergeants  in  the  Avia- 
tion Section  of  the  Signal  Enlisted  Reserve  Corps  were  being 
taught  to  fly  at  the  expense  of  the  Government.  A  few  civil- 
ians were  admitted,  and,  thanks  to  the  courtesy  of  Mr.  Cur- 
tiss,  I  was  permitted  to  enjoy  the  privileges  of  the  school. 
In  the  light  of  what  America  afterwards  did  in  the  way 
of  flying  schools,  that  school  now  seems  ridiculously  small 
and  inadequate,  but  considering  the  facilities  which  then 
existed,  we  felt  that  we  were  fortunate  indeed.  There  were 
generally  three  or  four  planes  in  commission,  but  sometimes 
only  one.  A  severe  hail-storm,  which  came  at  a  time  when 
there  were  no  hangars  at  the  school,  made  more  than  two 
hundred  holes  in  the  wings  of  the  oldest,  and  put  all  "ships" 
out  of  commission  for  a  while. 

Accidents  were  frequent.  Connecting-rods  broke  in  mid- 
air and  frightened  new  pilots  by  smashing  holes  in  crank 
cases.  Roger  Jannus  went  up  one  day  to  test  out  a  newly 
assembled  plane,  and  while  turning  a  loop  had  the  novel 
experience  of  having  his  propeller  fly  to  pieces.  His  great 
skill  as  a  pilot,  however,  stood  him  in  good  stead,  and  he 
made  a  perfect  landing  on  the  usual  little  bit  of  turf  known 
as  the  airdrome.  Inspection  of  what  was  left  of  the  hub  of 
the  propeller  showed  that  the  fault  was  with  some  dishon- 
est propeller  manufacturer.  The  first  series  of  holes  bored 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  7 

for  the  bolts  which  were  to  fasten  it  in  place  had  been  aban- 
doned and  plugged  up.  This  naturally  weakened  the  hub 
to  such  an  extent  that  as  soon  as  any  strain  was  put  upon 
it,  the  solid  wood  that  was  left  gave  way  and  the  propeller 
disappeared. 

We  thought  little  of  possible  interior  injury  to  planes. 
My  first  solo  flight  was  made  on  an  old  ship  that  had  been 
turned  over  on  its  back  twice  during  the  preceding  forty- 
eight  hours;  in  each  case  a  new  propeller  had  been  put 
on,  a  cabane  and  a  strut  had  been  renewed,  and  that  was 
all.  We  did  n't  worry  about  the  longerons.  We  were  glad 
enough  to  get  a  chance  to  fly  at  all. 

One  day  the  student  whose  turn  preceded  mine  had 
engine  failure  after  he  had  been  up  about  seven  minutes. 
As  soon  as  his  engine  stopped  he  switched  off  the  magneto 
and  glided  in,  over-reaching  the  small  field  and  landing  in 
the  long  grass  and  shrubs.  The  mechanics  at  once  went 
out  to  see  what  the  matter  was,  made  a  successful  at- 
tempt to  start  the  engine,  listened  long  enough  to  convince 
themselves  there  was  nothing  wrong,  and  then  hauled  the 
plane  back  to  the  landing  field.  The  young  pilot  was  rep- 
rimanded for  having  made  an  unnecessary  landing  and 
told  to  go  up  again,  which  he  declined  to  do.  So  the  ma- 
chine was  handed  over  to  me.  Two  days  before,  I  had 
made  my  first  solo  flight,  and  this  was  to  be  my  third 
attempt  without  a  teacher.  The  motor  started  off  well  and  I 
had  attained  some  little  altitude  after  flying  for  about  seven 
minutes,  when  the  motor  unaccountably  stopped.  I  switched 


8  AN  EXPLORER 

off  and  started  to  glide  for  the  field,  when  it  occurred  to  me 
that  this  trouble  might  not  be  anything  serious  and  would 
only  lead  to  my  getting  reprimanded  as  had  my  predecessor, 
so  I  switched  on  again,  and  to  my  delight  the  engine  took  hold 
and  went  very  nicely  for  about  a  minute.  Various  switch- 
ings on  and  off  succeeded  in  making  the  motor  run  occa- 
sionally, until  I  noticed  that  the  wind  was  driving  me  some 
distance  away  from  that  little  spot  of  dried  everglade  land 
that  meant  safety.  Between  me  and  the  airdrome,  how- 
ever, was  one  of  the  dredged  everglade  drainage  canals 
with  twenty-five  or  thirty  feet  of  limestone  rock  piled  up 
on  each  bank.  If  I  had  to  land  this  side  of  the  canal,  it 
would  mean  being  tipped  upside  down,  for  the  dried  muck 
was  too  soft  to  allow  the  landing  wheels  to  run  on  it  Con- 
sequently, the  temptation  to  extend  the  glide  and  get  over 
the  canal  to  the  hard  ground  beyond  was  irresistible. 
Then,  too,  the  engine  occasionally  gave  a  burst  or  two  which 
helped  for  a  few  seconds  at  a  time.  I  got  over  the  first  bank 
of  the  canal  all  right,  and  by  nosing  down  toward  the 
water  picked  up  just  enough  speed  to  clear  the  other  bank 
and  enable  me  to  pancake  in  the  sand  on  the  edge  of  the 
airdrome.  Fortunately,  no  damage  was  done.  It  certainly 
was  wonderful  what  those  old  JN-4's  could  stand. 

By  the  time  the  mechanics  got  out  to  the  plane,  they 
were  able  to  start  up  the  engine.  It  ran  nicely  for  a  few 
minutes — then  stopped.  After  a  while  somebody  found  out 
what  was  the  trouble.  The  night  before,  an  enthusiastic 


Miami :  The  next  day  after  this  accident  happened  I  was 
sent  up  for  my  first  solo  flight  in  this  same  ship 


Issoudun:  Major  Du  Mesnil  of  the  French  Army 

decorating  Captain  R.  S.  Davis  of  Field  7  with  the  Croix  de  Guerre 

for  bravery  shown  during  his  month  at  the  Front 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  9 

pilot,  in  his  mad  desire  to  get  in  a  few  moments'  flying 
before  dark,  had  hastily  filled  the  gas  tank  and  taken  his 
flight  without  putting  back  the  ventilated  screw  top.  He 
went  home  with  it  in  his  pocket  The  next  morning  the 
"sergeant"  whose  duty  it  was  to  fill  the  tank,  not  being  able 
to  locate  the  proper  plug,  hunted  around  in  the  little  ma- 
chine shop  until  he  found  one  that  fitted  and  thoughtlessly 
put  it  on,  although  it  had  no  air  vent  in  it  Consequendy, 
after  a  little  gasoline  had  run  down  out  of  the  tank  into 
the  carburetor,  a  partial  vacuum  formed  and  prevented 
the  engine  from  getting  any  gas  until  some  air  could  leak 
in  and  release  a  little.  Hence  the  strange  behavior  of  what 
might  have  been  a  badly  crashed  engine. 

One  day  a  newly  assembled  plane,  the  wings  of  which 
were  not  exacdy  of  the  same  pattern,  was  piloted  by  an  inex- 
perienced teacher  who  had  with  him  a  new  pupil  on  his  first 
or  second  flight.  They  got  into  a  tail  spin  and  fell  over  1500 
feet,  making  a  complete  crash.  The  engine  was  partially 
buried  in  the  ground,  and  the  plane  was  so  flattened  out  that 
hardly  any  of  it  was  more  than  a  foot  above  the  surface. 
It  seemed  like  a  miracle  that  neither  one  of  the  occupants 
was  killed.  Both  of  them  were  out  of  the  hospital  and 
hobbling  around  in  about  ten  days.  It  gave  us  more  con- 
fidence to  see  what  might  happen  without  a  fatal  ending. 

There  was  plenty  of  opportunity  to  learn  practical  rig- 
ging and  fitting.  Tom  Dee,  who  had  been  with  the  Curtiss 
Company  for  several  years  and  who  had  forgotten  more 


10  AN  EXPLORER 

about  airplanes  than  most  of  us  would  ever  learn,  was 
always  willing  to  teach  us  how  to  repair  damaged  planes. 
But  he  had  no  use  for  loafers  or  gamblers. 

One  day  Sergeant  (later  Captain)  Blake  arrived  as  the 
Government  representative.  He  had  been  in  the  Signal 
Corps  for  many  years  and  was  an  excellent  type  of  the  old 
regular  army  sergeant  He  had  rather  a  hard  time  with 
the  noisy  group  of  ambitious  young  pilots,  who  were  im- 
patient at  delays  in  securing  proper  training  equipment, 
and  who  saw  little  to  be  gained  in  doing  "squads  right" 
for  an  hour  in  the  broiling  tropical  sun.  Nevertheless,  they 
stuck  to  it  faithfully.  In  the  course  of  the  next  year  and 
a  half  several  of  them  made  enviable  records  in  the  Air 
Service.  At  least  four  were  promoted  to  Captaincies.  Most 
conscientious  of  all  and  most  uniformly  cheerful  in  the  per- 
formance of  his  duty  was  Hamilton  Coolidge  of  Groton 
and  Harvard,  who  later  earned  the  Distinguished  Service 
Cross,  and  was  one  of  the  American  Aces.  He  was  killed 
by  a  direct  hit  from  an  anti-aircraft  gun. 

Others  included  John  Mitchell,  who  also  became  a  Cap- 
tain in  the  Air  Service  and  commanded  a  squadron  at  the 
Front;  Fred  Harvey,  born  flyer,  who  was  so  greatly  ap- 
preciated that  he  was  not  permitted  to  go  abroad  until 
shortly  before  the  Armistice  was  signed;  and  Arthur  Rich- 
mond, who,  like  Harvey,  was  promoted  to  a  Captaincy  for 
distinguished  service  in  American  training  schools,  but, 
although  he  spoke  French  fluently,  was  denied  the  privi- 
lege of  getting  to  France.  Never  in  my  life  have  I  felt  so 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  11 

old  as  I  did  during  the  two  months  of  association  with 
this  brilliant  group  of  young  pilots,  who  had  all  been  born 
while  I  was  in  college  or  since  I  had  graduated,  and  whose 
youth  and  skill  were  to  entitle  them  to  render  most  merito- 
rious and  distinguished  service  in  helping  to  win  the  war 
in  the  air. 

As  soon  as  war  was  declared,  I  telegraphed  the  Adjutant- 
General  to  ask  that  my  former  commission  as  Captain  in  the 
Tenth  Field  Artillery,  Connecticut  National  Guard,  the  so- 
called  "Yale  Batteries,"  which  I  had  resigned  after  the  regi- 
ment was  demobilized,  be  renewed,  and  that  I  be  given  flying 
duty.  His  reply  was  an  application  blank  for  the  Aviation 
Section  of  the  Signal  Officers  Reserve  Corps.  This  I  filled 
out  and  sent  with  a  letter  to  General  Squier  telling  him  why 
it  seemed  to  me  that,  even  though  well  past  the  pilot's  age 
limit  of  thirty  years,  I  might  be  of  use  at  least  as  an  instruc- 
tor in  the  Air  Service.  On  April  30  I  passed  my  final  test 
for  the  Aero  Club  license  and  was  brevetted  as  an  "aviator 
pilot"  The  next  day,  gready  to  my  joy,  I  had  a  telegram 
from  General  Squier  asking  me  to  come  to  Washington 
immediately  to  assist  in  selecting  and  training  aviators. 
Needless  to  say,  I  took  the  next  train. 

General  Squier  had  recently  been  made  Chief  Signal  Offi- 
cer of  the  Army,  and  as  such  was  in  charge  of  all  army  Air 
Service  activities.  He  explained  that  he  had  sent  for  me  be- 
cause he  believed  my  experience  in  exploration  and  teach- 
ing, with  the  few  months  of  intensive  military  training  with 
the  Yale  Batteries  and  flying  at  Miami,  had  given  me  good 


12  AN  EXPLORER 

preparation  for  the  new  undertaking.  He  said  the  first  thing 
to  do  was  to  go  to  Toronto. 

Just  what  I  was  to  do  in  Toronto,  apart  from  the  fact  that 
representatives  of  several  universities  were  to  meet  me  there, 
was  not  quite  clear,  but  General  Squier  said  that  if  I  would 
simply  announce  my  arrival  in  Washington  to  Dr.  William 
F.  Durand,  the  Executive  Secretary  of  the  National  Advis- 
ory Committee  for  Aeronautics,  he  would  explain  the  whole 
situation  and  tell  me  what  to  do.  Dr.  Durand's  office  was  in 
the  Munsey  Building,  that  busy  hive  which  contained  so 
many  of  the  activities  of  the  National  Council  of  Defense, 
and  which  at  that  time  seemed  to  be  the  home  of  most  of  the 
dollar-a-year  men.  He  greeted  me  with  the  disconcerting 
question,  "What  brings  you  to  Washington?" 

However,  matters  were  soon  explained  and  he  very  kindly 
gave  me  letters  of  introduction  to  the  representatives  of  the 
Universities  of  California,  Texas,  Illinois,  Ohio,  Cornell,  and 
the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology,  who  had  been 
invited  to  go  to  Toronto  to  see  how  the  University  of  Toronto 
was  cooperating  with  the  Royal  Flying  Corps  in  giving 
ground  school  training  to  "would-be"  military  aviators.  No 
one  appeared  to  know  exactly  how  the  plan  was  to  be  worked 
out  in  this  country. 

The  fact  was,  that  our  national  policy  of  unpreparedness 
had  brought  us  actually  into  the  greatest  of  all  wars  without 
adequate  plans  for  training  aviators,  although  every  one 
knew  we  would  need  them  by  the  hundred. 

It  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  state  here  that  during  the 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  13 

first  few  months  of  my  duty  in  Washington,  the  officer  who, 
under  General  Squier,  was  in  immediate  charge  of  the  Avi- 
ation Section  of  the  Signal  Corps,  was  not  a  pilot,  had  only 
been  up  once  or  twice,  was  frankly  afraid  to  fly  even  as  an 
observer,  and  went  so  far  as  to  say  to  me  that  for  the  father 
of  seven  sons  to  take  flying  lessons  showed  that  he  did  not 
love  his  children.  I  could  not  help  wondering  whether  the 
Secretary  of  War  would  expect  an  officer  who  was  afraid  of 
riding  horseback  to  direct  the  fortunes  of  the  Mounted  Ser- 
vice School  or  even  command  a  cavalry  regiment  success- 
fully. 


CHAPTER  II 

TORONTO  AND  THE  ROYAL  FLYING  CORPS 

THE  contrast  between  Washington  and  Toronto  in  the 
first  week  of  May,  1917,  was  very  striking.  Both  cit- 
ies were  at  war,  but  one  had  scarcely  begun  to  realize  it  as 
yet,  while  the  other  could  not  forget  it  for  a  minute.  Wash- 
ington was  at  that  time  scarcely  any  different  from  its  ordi- 
nary self  during  the  sessions  of  Congress.  Our  army  officers 
were  not  in  uniform,  although  we  had  been  at  war  nearly  a 
month.  The  orders  came  a  week  or  two  later.  I  never  suc- 
ceeded in  discovering  whether  the  delay  was  caused  by  the 
disinclination  of  the  Secretary  of  War  to  change  from  a 
peace  to  a  war  basis,  or  whether  some  of  the  higher  staff 
officers,  who  had  been  putting  on  weight  at  Washington  for 
a  number  of  years  without  the  necessity  of  wearing  service 
uniforms,  caused  the  delay  in  order  that  they  might  have 
time  to  get  proper  sizes  made  before  the  order  was  published! 
Toronto  was  full  of  men  in  uniform — officers  driving 
madly  about  in  Government  cars ;  crippled  soldiers  sunning 
themselves  on  warm  corners  near  great  hospitals;  gigantic 
posters  urging  further  enlistments ;  recruits  training  in  quiet 
streets.  Toronto  did  more  than  her  share  toward  providing 
those  splendid  troops  that  Canada  so  early  sent  to  the  west- 
ern front.  The  clubs  and  hotels  of  Washington  were  filled 
with  eager  men  in  the  prime  of  life  anxious  to  find  someway 
of  serving  their  country.  The  hotels  and  clubs  in  Toronto, 
if  you  overlooked  the  presence  of  officers  who  had  been  in- 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  15 

valided  home,  were  sad  and  deserted,  most  of  the  men  bearing 
marks  of  anxiety  or  signs  of  mourning. 

Among  the  soldiers  in  Toronto,  none  carried  themselves 
with  quite  such  a  swagger  and  none  saluted  their  officers 
so  smartly  as  those  who  wore  in  white  letters  across  their 
sleeves  the  words  "Royal  Flying  Corps ; "  and  incidentally, 
none  seemed  to  have  so  many  admirers  on  the  street.  Many 
of  them  had  recently  come  over  from  England  to  aid  in 
carrying  out  the  new  project  whereby  Canadian  aviators 
and  their  more  venturesome  friends  from  across  the  bor- 
der might  receive  preliminary  and  advanced  training  before 
being  sent  abroad. 

Our  conference  at  Toronto  was  most  interesting.  Three 
professors  from  each  of  the  selected  universities,  chosen  in 
the  main  from  the  technical  faculties,  came  prepared  to 
spend  several  days  in  visiting  the  flying  schools,  attending 
classes  at  the  School  of  Military  Aeronautics  at  the  Univer- 
sity of  Toronto,  and  listening  to  veterans  of  the  World  War. 

We  were  most  courteously  received  by  General  (then 
Lieutenant-Colonel)  Hoare  and  Major  Allen  at  the  head- 
quarters of  the  Royal  Flying  Corps  and  given  every  facility 
for  studying  their  methods  of  administration  and  the  course 
of  study  which  they  had  laid  down.  We  were  furnished 
with  typewritten  copies  of  all  the  lectures  used  at  their 
School  of  Military  Aeronautics,  and  were  given  sets  of  text- 
books and  service  regulations.  Everything  was  done  to  make 
us  feel  that  although  we  had  been  unaccountably  long  in 
joining  the  common  cause  against  the  Hun,  now  that  we 


16  AN  EXPLORER 

had  come  in,  we  were  to  be  on  a  basis  of  perfect  equality 
with  those  who  had  been  sacrificing  everything  for  two 
years  and  a  half. 

On  the  day  following  our  arrival,  it  was  arranged  that 
we  should  go  out  to  Camp  Borden,  some  seventy-five  miles 
from  Toronto.  At  that  time  this  was  by  far  the  largest  and 
most  important  flying  field  outside  of  Europe.  We  were 
proud  to  find  it  commanded  by  an  American,  once  the  cap- 
tain of  a  victorious  Harvard  crew,  Major  Oliver  D.  Filley. 
He  had  been  one  of  the  first  Americans  to  join  the  British 
forces  in  the  war,  and  had  been  for  many  months  on  the 
western  front.  Seriously  injured  in  an  airplane  accident, 
he  had  recovered  sufficiently  to  be  placed  in  charge  of  this 
great  school.  Afterwards  he  accepted  General  Squier's  in- 
vitation to  come  into  our  service,  was  commissioned  Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel, placed  in  charge  of  the  Observers'  School 
at  Fort  Sill,  and  later  had  charge  of  training  American  Hand- 
ley  Page  squadrons  in  England. 

Colonel  Filley  gave  us  a  most  instructive  day,  the  best 
part  of  which  was  the  opportunity  to  converse  with  the 
most  experienced  officers  of  the  Royal  Flying  Corps  who 
were  on  his  staff.  He  knew  what  sort  of  boys  we  would 
have  to  train  and  emphasized  the  kind  of  personnel  needed. 
He  impressed  it  upon  the  university  representatives  that 
the  pilot  was  far  from  being  a  "flying  chauffeur,"  as  some 
seemed  to  think.  True,  his  power  came  from  a  gasoline 
motor  and  the  wheels  beneath  him  were  protected  by  pneu- 
matic tires,  but  here  the  simile  ended.  "As  a  matter  of  fact," 


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IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  17 

said  the  Colonel,  "the  pilot  is  more  like  the  knight  of  old, 
or  the  modern  cavalry  officer ;  he  must  first  of  all  be  (to  quote 
the  hackneyed  phrase)  an  officer  and  a  gentleman."  He  must 
be  the  kind  of  man  whose  honor  is  never  left  out  of  con- 
sideration. He  must  be  as  highly  educated  as  possible  in 
order  that  he  may  the  more  readily  learn  to  adapt  himself  to 
rapidly  changing  tactics  of  the  land  army  as  well  as  the  air 
forces.  He  must  be  resourceful,  keen,  quick,  and  determined. 
The  Colonel  said  that  polo  players  and  football  quarterbacks 
made  excellent  pilots.  He  did  not  recommend  crew  men! 
A  never-to-be-forgotten  impression  was  made  on  the  dele- 
gation by  Captain  Bell-Irving,  the  officer  in  charge  of  the 
repair  shop,  a  member  of  a  British  Columbia  family  which 
greatly  distinguished  itself  in  the  war.  Captain  Bell-Irving 
had  been  in  the  first  Canadian  force  to  be  sent  over,  and 
after  having  been  on  the  western  front  for  some  time,  and 
wounded  once  or  twice,  had  joined  the  Flying  Corps  and 
become  a  pilot  in  an  observation  squadron.  One  day  his  ob- 
server had  succeeded  in  securing  some  very  important  pho- 
tographs, when  a  shrapnel  ball  from  a  German  anti-aircraft 
battery  struck  him  in  the  temple,  passed  above  his  eye,  and 
lodged  itself  above  the  brain.  At  first  he  was  unconscious, 
then  as  the  machine  fell  out  of  control  he  regained  con- 
sciousness, and  instinctively  realized  the  precarious  condi- 
tion of  his  observer  and  the  importance  of  getting  his  pho- 
tographs back  within  the  British  lines.  Wiping  the  blood 
from  his  face  with  his  sleeve,  he  successfully  piloted  the 
machine  back  for  nine  miles  and  landed  in  safety  not  far 


18  AN  EXPLORER 

from  his  own  airdrome  before  again  becoming  unconscious. 
The  bullet  was  still  in  his  head,  since  the  surgeons  had  not 
dared  to  attempt  to  extract  it,  and  at  times  it  gave  him 
frightful  pain  so  that  he  could  scarcely  see.  But  he  was 
doing  splendid  work  in  his  new  job  and  was  full  of  coura- 
geous optimism.  His  few  words  of  assurance  that  it  was 
most  important  to  select  the  pilots  with  great  care  sank 
deeply  into  the  hearts  of  the  men  who  were  to  be  the  guid- 
ing spirits  in  the  new  United  States  Schools  of  Military 
Aeronautics  and  left  a  profound  impression. 

It  was  borne  in  on  us  by  all  those  with  whom  we  talked 
that  the  first  necessity  in  the  Air  Service  was  to  get  the 
right  type  of  personnel :  fellows  of  quick,  clear  intelligence, 
mentally  acute  and  physically  fit;  that  the  next  thing  was 
to  make  soldiers  of  them  and  teach  them  the  value  of  mili- 
tary discipline;  finally,  that  we  should  eliminate  the  unfit 
as  fast  as  possible  and  avoid  giving  them  flying  instruction 
unless  they  proved  themselves  to  be  morally,  physically,  and 
mentally  worthy  of  receiving  the  most  expensive  education 
in  the  world. 

The  next  few  days  were  spent  attending  as  many  classes 
as  possible  in  the  buildings  of  the  university,  where  the 
Royal  Flying  Corps  had  established  its  local  School  of 
Military  Aeronautics. 

The  adjutant  of  the  school,  a  keen,  young,  wounded  vet- 
eran of  the  war,  was  the  son  of  one  of  the  professors  at  the 
university  whose  name  is  well  known  in  our  historical  cir- 
cles. I  mention  this  relationship  because  it  enables  me  to 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  19 

illustrate  how  much  better  our  Allies  kept  their  military 
secrets  than  we  did.  The  day  after  seeing  the  great  flying 
school  at  Camp  Borden,  I  had  the  honor  of  lunching  with 
this  officer's  mother  and  father.  The  president  of  the  uni- 
versity was  one  of  the  guests.  The  conversation  naturally 
travelled  around  to  aviation,  and  the  wonder  was  expressed 
as  to  where  the  Royal  Flying  Corps  would  put  its  new  big 
flying  school.  It  had  been  on  the  tip  of  my  tongue  to  speak 
about  our  amazement  at  what  we  had  seen  the  day  before 
at  Camp  Borden,  when  I  suddenly  realized  that  the  secret 
of  what  was  being  done  out  there  was  so  well  kept  that 
neither  the  president  of  the  university  which  was  housing 
the  ground  school,  nor  the  father  and  mother  of  the  young 
veteran  aviator,  who  was  its  adjutant,  was  aware  of  what 
was  going  on.  In  the  course  of  time,  the  work  at  Camp 
Borden  came  to  be  well  known,  but  this  incident  and  the 
caution  of  our  Allies  gave  us  American  delegates  a  new 
sense  of  the  importance  of  keeping  our  mouths  shut  con- 
cerning the  things  that  were  so  generously  laid  open  to  us. 
It  made  us  appreciate  all  the  more  the  hearty  cooperation 
of  our  new  allies,  and  we  marvelled  at  their  willingness  to 
offer  us  so  freely  all  the  secrets  that  they  had  learned  at  the 
cost  of  so  much  blood  and  treasure. 

We  found  that  the  University  of  Toronto  was  supplying 
the  Royal  Flying  Corps  with  buildings  and  grounds,  but 
that  most  of  the  instructors  were  veterans  of  the  western 
front,  either  pilots  who  had  been  injured  or  become  stale,  or 
non-commissioned  officers  of  long  experience  as  sergeant-in- 


20  AN  EXPLORER 

structors.  While  we  could  not  hope  to  secure  similar  teaching 
personnel  for  our  own  Schools  of  Military  Aeronautics,  it 
was  believed  that  by  using  trained  instructors  and  giving 
them  the  very  latest  information  as  a  basis  for  their  lectures, 
we  might  not  fall  so  very  far  behind  our  model. 

Conferences  with  various  instructors  at  the  ground  school 
developed  the  fact — which  we  had  occasion  later  to  notice 
repeatedly — that  the  veterans  of  the  western  front  differed 
radically  on  the  importance  of  the  various  subjects  of  study 
and  the  necessity  for  their  being  taught  more  or  less  thor- 
oughly. All  were  agreed,  however,  that  undisciplined,  un- 
military  pilots  were  extremely  undesirable,  and  that  any 
youth  who  followed  individualistic  tendencies  to  such  a  de- 
gree as  to  make  him  appear  to  be  a  poor  soldier  should  not 
be  trained  as  a  pilot  They  said  he  would  soon  come  to  grief 
over  the  lines  where  team  play  was  so  essential,  and  where 
the  carrying  out  of  missions  exactly  as  ordered  was  so  easy 
to  avoid  if  the  pilot  were  so  inclined,  or  preferred  to  "  go 
after  a  Hun." 

We  learned  that  the  principle  was  adopted  of  admitting 
a  new  class  of  students  each  week  and  graduating  them  as 
they  were  needed  in  the  flying  school.  The  idea  was  to  fur- 
nish a  steady  stream  of  pupils  to  the  teachers  of  preliminary 
flying  and  to  eliminate  the  undesirables  at  the  relatively 
inexpensive  ground  school  before  they  should  have  any  op- 
portunity of  wasting  the  valuable  time  of  flying  instructors 
and  the  very  expensive  facilities  offered  on  an  airdrome.  We 
felt  that  we  could  not  do  better  than  to  copy  as  nearly  as 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  21 

possible  the  curriculum  adopted  by  the  Royal  Flying  Corps 
after  more  than  two  years  of  war.  On  the  advice  of  several 
of  the  chief  instructors,  we  enlarged  the  course  in  various 
particulars  so  as  to  make  it  cover  eight  weeks  instead  of 
six.  Later,  this  was  still  further  extended.  Great  stress  was 
laid  on  the  importance  of  developing  ability  to  observe  artil- 
lery fire  and  to  cooperate  with  both  artillery  and  infantry. 
The  importance  of  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  machine 
gun,  the  internal  combustion  motor,  and  wireless  telegraphy 
was  emphasized.  We  decided  to  adopt  the  British  method 
of  dividing  the  course  into  two  parts :  the  first,  of  three 
weeks,  chiefly  military  studies  and  infantry  drill ;  the  sec- 
ond, of  five  weeks,  technical  aeronautics,  with  particular 
emphasis  on  guns  and  motors. 

These  preliminaries  having  been  decided,  and  a  tenta- 
tive programme  of  studies  adopted,  the  delegates  hastened 
back  to  their  respective  universities  to  rush  the  preparation 
for  students  who  had  already  passed  their  entrance  examina- 
tions as  given  by  the  Aviation  Examining  Boards  in  various 
cities,  and  who  were  anxious  to  commence  their  training, 
even  though  it  meant  first  going  to  a  ground  school  instead 
of  being  immediately  put  in  an  airplane,  as  so  many  of  them 
hoped  would  be  the  case. 

Our  meetings  in  Toronto  were  concluded  on  May  1 1. 
Ten  days  later  the  six  new  Schools  of  Military  Aeronau- 
tics were  ready  to  receive,  and  were  actually  receiving,  their 
first  students.  Of  course  special  faculty  meetings  had  to  be 
held,  trustees  had  to  vote  credits,  laboratories  and  classrooms 


22  AN  EXPLORER 

had  to  be  hastily  adjusted  to  meet  new  demands,  lectures  on 
new  subjects  had  to  be  prepared  from  the  material  obtained 
in  Toronto,  and  plans  made  to  receive  a  small  army  post 
under  the  command  of  a  recent  graduate  of  West  Point 
and  San  Diego.  In  one  case,  at  the  University  of  California, 
ground  was  immediately  broken  on  the  campus  for  a  new 
building  whose  plans  had  been  drawn  on  the  train  by  the 
Toronto  delegates,  a  building  designed  to  accommodate  ex- 
actly the  needs  of  the  new  school.  In  every  case,  serious  dis- 
locations had  to  be  quickly  performed.  It  seemed  incredible 
that  they  could  be  ready  in  ten  days.  Small  wonder  that 
General  Squier  endorsed  my  letter  of  May  13,  informing 
him  that  the  universities  would  be  able  to  commence  in- 
struction in  the  cadet  schools  not  later  than  Monday,  May 
21:  "Splendid.  Am  much  pleased.  Go  ahead  full  steam." 
And  the  universities  made  good ! 

If  one  did  not  know  the  tremendous  loyalty  and  self- 
sacrifice  that  pervades  American  universities,  their  imme- 
diate response  to  the  new  demands  of  the  Army  Air  Service 
would  have  been  incredible.  Had  it  only  been  as  easy  to  build 
training  planes  and  to  obtain  well-equipped  flying  schools 
as  it  was  to  secure  the  full  cooperation  of  enthusiastic,  high 
grade  universities  and  use  their  equipment,  the  problem  of 
sending  American  aviators  to  the  Front  would  have  been 
very  much  simpler. 


CHAPTER  III 

WAR   FEVER  IN  WASHINGTON 

ON  my  return  to  Washington  on  May  13,  the  city 
looked  more  warlike,  for  in  the  mean  time  orders  had 
been  issued  that  all  officers  on  active  duty  should  wear  service 
uniforms.  At  the  same  time  this  brought  out  an  amusing 
feature  of  our  unpreparedness  which  was  particularly  strik- 
ing to  one  who  had  just  been  associating  with  the  appro- 
priately uniformed  officers  of  the  Royal  Flying  Corps.  They 
wore  wings,  but  none  of  them  wore  spurs,  while  at  Wash- 
ington the  officers  in  the  Aviation  Section  of  the  Signal 
Corps  wore  spurs,  but  did  not  wear  wings.  About  six 
months  later,  our  military  aviators  were  authorized  by  the 
General  Staff  to  wear  wings,  but  when  wearing  boots  were 
still  obliged  to  wear  spurs.  Six  months  later,  the  War  Col- 
lege, after  we  had  been  at  war  for  a  year,  woke  up  to  the 
ridiculous  side  of  forcing  aviators  to  wear  spurs,  when  ob- 
viously from  their  wings  they  used  airplanes  and  not  horses, 
and  issued  a  new  regulation  that  aviators  when  wearing  boots 
would  not  wear  spurs.  This  was  permitted,  however,  only 
as  long  as  we  were  actively  engaged  in  war,  and  in  the  fol- 
lowing December  the  rule  was  changed  back  again,  so  that 
when  I  returned  from  France  in  January,  1919,  I  received 
a  similar  shock  to  this  one  after  mv  first  visit  to  Toronto, 
and  found  the  unfortunate  aviator  once  more  compelled  to 
wear  spurs  when  wearing  boots. 

It  would  be  interesting  to  delve  into  the  inner  conscious- 


24  AN  EXPLORER 

ness  of  the  dear  old  boys  down  in  the  sancta  sanctorum  of  the 
War  College.  It  is  a  queer  sense  of  humor  that  requires 
a  field  officer,  who  in  the  course  of  his  duties  suddenly  is 
called  upon  to  mount  his  winged  steed,  to  divest  himself  of 
his  spurs  and  put  them  in  his  pocket  for  safety.  I  speak  the 
more  feelingly  on  this  matter  because  of  one  Sunday  after- 
noon at  Potomac  Park,  when  I  was  invited  unexpectedly  to 
fly  with  Colonel  Lee  of  the  Royal  Flying  Corps  and  had  to 
listen  to  the  laughter  of  the  crowd  while  I  took  off  my  spurs. 
It  would  not  have  been  so  bad  had  I  not  been  wearing  wings 
at  the  same  time.  However,  we  were  not  the  only  branch  or 
the  only  army  to  suffer  from  archaic  uniform  regulations.  A 
post-bellum  issue  of  Punch  portrays  the  embarrassment  of 
a  natty  young  railroad  transportation  officer,  smartly  clad 
in  very  "horsey"  regalia,  roughly  accosted  by  an  infantry 
colonel  just  returned  at  the  head  of  a  victorious  regiment, 
who  inquired  whether  the  "engines  were  feeling  frisky  this 
morning." 

On  the  other  hand,  the  courtesy  of  the  regular  officers  of 
the  permanent  establishment  to  the  newly  appointed  reserve 
officers  during  the  early  months  of  the  war,  when  we  were 
all  so  green,  made  so  many  mistakes,  and  had  so  much  to 
learn  of  army  procedure,  was  particularly  noticeable.  It  was 
very  pleasant  and  gave  one  a  feeling  of  being  part  of  a  cor- 
dial family  organization  to  have  the  older  regular  officers 
meet  a  stranger  on  the  street  with  their  hearty  "  Good  morn- 
ing" when  one  appeared  in  uniform.  This  gracious  recogni- 
tion of  the  old  army,  however,  soon  died  out  as  Washington 


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IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  25 

became  swamped  by  the  inrush  of  several  thousand  reserve 
officers  who  had  not  been  accustomed  to  bowing  to  a  stran- 
ger merely  because  he  wore  the  uniform  of  the  United 
States  Army. 

As  we  look  back  from  this  distance  and  have  in  mind 
the  enormous  structures  which  were  built  in  Washington 
in  1918  to  meet  the  requirements  of  the  War  Depart- 
ment, it  is  amazing  to  note  the  inadequate  preparations  and 
the  small  vision  of  the  requirements  that  prevailed  in  May 
and  June,  1917.  Previous  to  our  entry  into  the  war,  the 
War  Department  apparendy  had  made  no  plans  as  to 
what  it  would  do  in  case  we  were  suddenly  called  upon 
to  become  one  of  the  great  military  nations  in  the  world. 
When  the  war,  that  is,  our  part  in  it,  began,  the  Adjutant- 
General's  office,  as  I  was  told  by  one  of  the  best  informed 
members  of  the  General  Staff,  was  receiving  about  three 
thousand  communications  a  day,  and  these  were  being 
handled  by  six  or  eight  officers  and  an  adequate  force  of 
trained  clerks.  Foreseeing  in  some  degree  that  an  addi- 
tional force  would  be  required,  the  number  of  officers  and 
clerks  was  merely  doubled  after  we  entered  the  war.  On  the 
particular  day  on  which  I  made  my  inquiries  as  to  why  a 
certain  communication  had  received  no  attention  for  nearly 
two  weeks,  I  was  informed  that  the  incoming  mail  that  morn- 
ing at  the  Adjutant-General's  office  consisted  of  over  forty 
thousand  pieces,  or  about  thirteen  times  as  much  as  at  the 
beginning  of  the  war,  while  the  office  force  was  still  only 
twice  as  large.  Of  course  this  was  altered  later,  but  it  seemed 


26  AN  EXPLORER 

to  me  at  the  time  an  adequate  explanation  of  the  reason 

why  my  own  communication  had  not  been  answered  more 

promptly. 

During  the  month  of  May  and  part  of  June,  my  office, 
as  Director  of  the  United  States  Schools  of  Military  Aero- 
nautics, consisted  of  a  desk  in  a  small  room  where,  besides 
myself  and  two  assistants,  there  was  also  located  the  desk 
of  Captain  (later  Colonel)  Aubrey  Lippincott,  who  was  in 
chargeof  the  personnel  division  of  the  Air  Service;  two  other 
officers,  who  were  in  charge  of  the  personnel  of  the  Signal 
Corps  proper, and  Mr.  W.  M.  Redding,  whose  sixteen  years 
of  service  as  one  of  the  principal  clerks  in  the  office  of  the 
Chief  Signal  Officer  made  him  an  indispensable  source  of 
information  as  regards  procedure  and  many  other  details. 
From  this  small  room,  then,  for  several  weeks  went  out 
practically  all  of  the  correspondence  covering  the  personnel 
of  the  Signal  Corps  as  well  as  that  of  the  Air  Service,  in  ad- 
dition to  that  concerned  with  the  ground  schools.  But  that 
was  not  all,  for  here  between  the  hours  of  ten  in  the  morning 
and  four  in  the  afternoon,  we  were  subjected  to  a  stream 
of  callers,  who  wanted  important  information  on  every  con- 
ceivable subject.  In  June  we  moved  over  to  the  Mills  Build- 
ing, where  the  "Schools  Division"  had  at  least  one  room, 
but  this  was  speedily  filled  up  with  the  desks  of  assistants, 
clerks,  and  stenographers  until  there  was  scarcely  a  chair 
for  our  importunate  callers. 

It  may  be  interesting  to  know  that  within  six  months 
of  the  time  when  we  were  all  huddled  together  in  that  little 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  27 

room  on  the  fourth  floor  of  the  State,  War,  and  Navy  Build- 
ing, the  Air  Personnel  Division  had  begun  to  use  the  ser- 
vices of  fifty  officers  and  two  hundred  and  fifty  clerks,  while 
the  Schools  of  Military  Aeronautics  Division  required  the 
services  of  a  dozen  officers  and  forty  clerks.  Our  growth  was 
attended  by  many  difficulties  and  numerous  moves.  Each 
move  caused  lossof  time,  misplacement  of  papers,  and  delays 
which  were  disappointing,  and  were  often  misunderstood 
by  our  friends  and  correspondents.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the 
Schools  Division  moved  five  times  in  about  as  many  months. 
These  were  feverish  days  of  living  from  hand  to  mouth. 
One  never  knew  from  week  to  week  what  new  conditions 
would  have  to  be  met  either  physically  or  mentally. 

One  of  my  first  tasks  was  to  have  copies  made  of  the  lec- 
tures used  by  the  Royal  Flying  Corps  at  Toronto  and  send 
these  copies  out  to  our  new  schools  as  fast  as  possible.  There 
were  practically  no  stenographers  available  for  this  pur- 
pose, but  fortunately  I  was  able  to  have  the  original  lec- 
tures photostated  and  sent  out  in  this  form. 

While  in  the  throes  of  trying  to  do  a  dozen  things  at 
once,  so  as  to  give  the  greatest  possible  amount  of  assist- 
ance to  the  universities  that  were  struggling  with  their 
new  problems,  I  was  suddenly  presented  with  a  highly 
trained  and  most  enthusiastic  assistant,  Frank  C.  Page. 
General  Squier  had  known  him  at  the  Embassy  in  Lon- 
don and  gave  him  a  commission  as  Captain,  which  was 
later  increased  to  that  of  Major.  What  I  should  have  done 
without  Major  Page  during  the  next  few  months  is  diffi- 


28  AN  EXPLORER 

cult  to  imagine.  His  knowledge  of  aeronautics  as  well  as 
his  editorial  ability  and  his  acquaintance  with  the  ways  of 
the  War  Department  enabled  him  to  start  right  in,  on  the 
day  the  General  asked  him  to  become  my  assistant,  and  with- 
out a  moment's  hesitation  to  become  immensely  helpful. 

General  Squier,  while  wisely  avoiding  the  tyranny  of 
details  and  refusing  to  become  discouraged  by,  or  inter- 
ested in,  the  difficulties  which  he  believed  should  be  solved 
by  his  subordinates,  had  a  most  remarkable  way  of  gath- 
ering in  useful  people  to  help  the  Air  programme.  He  was 
quick  to  realize  that,  notwithstanding  a  lamentable  lack  of 
former  military  training,  editors,  college  professors,  secre- 
taries of  learned  societies,  former  national  tennis  champions, 
managers  of  large  business  enterprises,  distinguished  en- 
gineers, and  former  police  commissioners,  all  had  something 
of  value  in  their  make-up,  as  attested  by  their  past  history, 
which  would  justify  the  Air  Service  in  giving  them  commis- 
sions and  securing  their  services.  He  knew  they  would  make 
mistakes.  His  year  and  a  half  on  the  Western  Front  had 
taught  him,  however,  what,  unfortunately,  many  of  the  older 
staff  officers  found  it  difficult  to  learn  before  the  Armistice 
was  signed,  that  this  war,  unlike  any  which  had  preceded 
it,  could  use  to  the  fullest  extent  men  who  had  succeeded  in 
thecivilian  world's  occupations,  even  though  they  knew  noth- 
ing of  Army  Regulations,  or  of  infantry  drill.  He  did  not  ex- 
pect them  to  develop  into  active  commanders  on  the  West- 
ern Front.  He  repeatedly  said  that  in  the  course  of  a  few 
months  all  the  regular  officers  of  the  permanent  establish- 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  29 

ment  would  be  needed  on  the  firing  line  in  France.  But  he 
did  expect  that  the  important  positions  in  the  War  Depart- 
ment at  home  would  be  filled  by  near-civilians,  and  to  give 
them  the  rank  necessary  for  the  places  they  were  to  fill  did 
not  worry  him  in  the  least,  even  though  they  had  never 
served  an  eight  years' apprenticeship  as  Second  Lieutenants 
in  the  Line,  and  could  not  do  "  Squads  right." 

Furthermore,  General  Squier  saw  clearly  the  tremendous 
possibilities  of  the  Air  Service.  His  prophetic  vision,  rising 
above  the  practical  difficulties  and  annoying  details  con- 
nected with  such  mushroom  growth,  soared  away  into  space 
like  a  veritable  comet.  Every  time  I  had  the  opportunity  of 
a  long  conversation  with  my  Chief,  I  came  away  filled  with 
a  new  inspiration  and  a  clearer  idea  of  the  gigantic  task 
that  lay  ahead  of  us.  Even  in  little  things  he  saw  more  dis- 
tinctly than  any  of  us  the  requirements  of  our  coming  ex- 
pansion. At  a  time  when  it  seemed  to  me  that  two  or  three 
office  assistants  and  half  a  dozen  stenographers  would  be 
all  that  I  should  need,  he  waved  the  idea  aside  with  the 
remark,  "You  must  get  ready  to  have  at  least  a  dozen  of- 
ficers and  fifty  clerks."  And  his  vision  was  correct.  It  needed 
just  about  that  many  to  handle  the  correspondence  and  the 
details  of  running  the  Schools  of  Military  Aeronautics  after 
they  finally  got  going  under  full  steam. 

I  think  General  Squier  expected  more  of  us  than  we  could 
possibly  perform.  He  had  seen  what  miracles  were  being 
done  in  England  and  France,  and  he  had  the  greatest  op- 
timism regarding  American  youth.  Our  Chief  followed  the 


30  AN  EXPLORER 

principle  of  giving  his  subordinates  the  widest  possible 
authority  and  permitting  them  to  make  decisions  of  the 
greatest  importance.  Seldom  did  he  deny  our  requests.  Our 
opportunity  was  tremendous  and  our  responsibilities  in- 
creased from  day  to  day,  but  we  always  felt  that  we  had  Gen- 
eral Squier  behind  us.  His  optimism  was  contagious,  and 
his  belief  in  the  great  future  of  the  American  pilot  spurred 
us  on  to  work  at  high  speed  early  and  late.  Holidays  were 
welcome  because  they  meant  a  freedom  from  callers  and  the 
opportunity  to  accomplish  more  constructive  work  than  on 
ordinary  week-days. 

The  universities  cooperated  to  the  utmost  of  their  ability, 
and  showed  unusual  patience  with  the  frequent  changes  of 
plan  and  curriculum  that  were  necessitated  by  military  ex- 
igency. Just  as  we  would  get  comfortably  settled  in  one  course 
of  study,  word  would  come  by  cable  from  General  Pershing, 
urging  that  more  stress  be  laid  on  something  else.  The  truth 
was,  that  the  General  Staff  knew  practically  nothing  about 
Military  Aeronautics.  Neither  then,  nor  for  many  months 
afterwards,  was  there  a  singleGeneral  Staff  officer  in  Wash- 
ington who  had  attended  a  flying  school,  or  who'  understood 
through  practical  experience  the  needs  of  a  School  of  Mil- 
itary Aeronautics.  We  had  to  work  out  our  own  salvation  — 
and  keep  going  at  the  same  time.  Fortunately  we  had  the 
constant  aid  and  assistance,  during  these  difficult  first  six 
months, of  Colonel  L.  W.  B.  Rees,  of  the  Royal  Flying  Corps, 
who  had  been  decorated  for  his  extraordinary  courage  in 
attacking  single-handed  ten  German  planes. 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  31 

Colonel  Rees  had  been  used  in  England  as  an  instructor, 
so  his  advice  was  particularly  valuable.  We  learned  to  turn 
to  him  on  all  doubtful  questions.  That  we  did  not  make 
more  mistakes  was  due  chiefly  to  his  long  experience  and 
good  judgment.  On  my  first  tour  of  inspection  of  the  cadets 
in  the  ground  schools  I  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  accom- 
panied by  Colonel  Rees,  and  to  witness  the  enthusiasm  which 
his  presence  aroused  among  the  cadets  and  the  eagerness 
with  which  the  members  of  the  various  faculties  plied  him 
with  questions  both  before  and  after  his  lecture.  Merely  to 
get  a  glimpse  of  him  as  he  limped  across  the  campus  and  to 
realize  what  he  had  done  was  enough  to  increase  appreci- 
ably the  zeal  of  the  cadets. 

He  was  in  charge  of  a  squadron  at  the  Front  just  before 
the  Somme  offensive.  Annoyed,  as  he  whimsically  relates, 
by  the  continual  ringing  of  the  telephone  and  the  repeated 
asking  of  unnecessary  questions  by  junior  officers  at  Head- 
quarters, he  decided  to  take  a  patrol  himself.  At  that  time 
it  appears  to  have  been  the  custom  for  single  machines  to 
make  patrols.  Later,  patrols  were  taken  by  flights  or  entire 
squadrons.  While  on  his  solitary  patrol  he  saw  a  squadron 
of  ten  German  machines  headed  for  France.  As  I  remember 
the  story,  they  were  two-seaters,  and  probably  constituted  a 
day-bombing  squadron.  With  almost  unparalleled  daring, 
he  attacked  the  squadron,  broke  it  up,  sent  down  at  least 
three,  if  not  four,  of  the  enemy  aircraft  in  flames,  and  had  the 
satisfaction  of  seeing  the  others  hurry  homeward  in  a  de- 
moralized state.  During  the  latter  part  of  the  engagement, 


32  AN  EXPLORER 

he  was  suffering  from  the  effects  of  a  machine  gun  bullet, 
which  entered  his  thigh  and  lodged  near  his  right  knee. 
This  did  not  prevent  him,  however,  from  completing  his 
victory  by  demolishing  his  last  opponent  and  flying  safely 
home  to  his  own  airdrome.  He  spent  the  next  six  months 
in  the  hospital,  but  eventually  had  the  satisfaction  of  having 
the  "V.  C."  pinned  on  his  coat  by  the  King  himself. 

It  was  only  with  the  very  greatest  difficulty  that  one  could 
get  Colonel  Rees  to  speak  of  his  great  fight,  even  in  pri- 
vate. His  lectures  were  confined  to  a  discussion  of  recent 
developments  in  aerial  tactics  and  amusing  stories  of  mis- 
takes that  had  been  made  by  British  pilots,  due  in  some 
cases  to  inability  to  read  maps,  and  in  others  to  disobedi- 
ence of  specific  instructions.  His  readiness  to  help  us  on  the 
minutest  details  was  particularly  appreciated  by  Lieutenant 
John  C.  Farrar,  whose  duty  it  was  to  collect  for  the  use  of  the 
schools  all  the  latest  information  regarding  military  aero- 
nautics. Lieutenant  Farrar 's  keen  enthusiasm  for  his  work 
enabled  him  to  unearth  much  that  was  of  the  greatest  value 
both  in  Washington  and  Toronto,  and  later  in  France.  We 
continually  received  the  very  latest  confidential  information 
prepared  by  the  Royal  Flying  Corps.  Its  use  in  the  courses 
at  the  ground  schools  was  of  great  psychological  value.  It 
raised  the  morale  of  the  cadets  and  made  them  take  pride 
and  interest  in  the  course  of  instruction.  Unfortunately,  it 
could  not  help  them  to  get  to  the  Front  any  sooner. 


An  Instructional  Poster,  typical  of  ma 


*W* 


^ 


^K 


fijP 


r  ■€»—«    FOMUTIOM    CANNOT    «K    TOO  I 


|d 


"THE 


eceived  from  the  Royal  Flying  Corps 


CHAPTER  IV 

ORGANIZING  THE  SCHOOLS  OF  MILITARY 
AERONAUTICS 

THE  United  States  Schools  of  Military  Aeronautics 
were  organized  on  a  basis  which  permitted  the  Com- 
mandant, a  regular  officer  of  the  permanent  establishment 
and  responsible  directly  to  the  Chief  Signal  Officer  of  the 
Army,  to  have  complete  control  over  the  whole  institution. 
As  assistants  to  the  Commandant  there  were  an  adjutant,  a 
supply  officer,  and  an  officer  in  charge  of  military  instruc- 
tion.The  Commandant's  right-hand  man,  how  ever,  on  whom 
more  than  on  any  other  one  person  depended  the  success  of 
the  school,  was  the  civilian  President  of  the  Academic  Board, 
to  whom  the  faculty  were  directly  responsible,  and  who 
appeared  to  the  students  as  a  kind  of  Dean. 

The  commandants  were  drawn  from  the  ranks  of  the 
junior  officers  in  the  Signal  Corps.  The  newness  of  army 
aviation,  and  the  unwillingness  of  older  officers  to  take  the 
risks  associated  with  aviation  training,  had  one  unfortunate 
effect  The  handful  of  regular  army  officers  who  had  had  prac- 
tical experience  in  military  aeronautics  was  for  the  most  part 
composed  of  recent  graduates  of  West  Point,  very  young 
men,  who  had  failed  to  secure  that  six  or  eight  years'  experi- 
ence in  handling  men  which  was  the  ordinary  lot  of  lieuten- 
ants in  the  infantry  before  being  called  upon  to  assume  posi- 
tions of  responsibility.  Most  of  them  had  had  six  months 
with  troops,  but  neither  their  experience  at  West  Point  nor 


34  AN  EXPLORER 

their  training  at  San  Diego  had  made  them  super-men.  Due 
to  the  rapid  expansion  of  the  regular  army  at  the  beginning 
of  the  war,  these  second  lieutenants  almost  immediately  be- 
came captains,  or  rather  majors,  for  the  operation  of  the  law 
regarding  Junior  Military  Aviators  gave  them  additional 
rank. 

The  fact  that  an  officer  was  a  major  in  the  regular  army 
and  a  graduate  of  West  Point  and  San  Diego  made  him 
liable  to  have  great  responsibilities  thrust  upon  him,  which 
few  men  of  twenty-five  (and  most  of  our  new  J.  M.  A.  Ma- 
jors were  not  over  twenty -five  years  of  age)  had  either  the 
experience  or  the  judgment  to  assume  successfully.  Conse- 
quently,itwas  not  surprising  that  some  of  them  encountered 
difficulties  in  their  new  work,  and  that  the  Inspector-General 
of  the  Army  very  severely  criticised  the  manner  in  which 
some  of  the  ground  schools,  and  also  some  of  the  flying 
schools,  were  conducted. 

The  ground  schools  had  an  easier  time  than  the  flying 
schools  because  the  work  was,  after  all,  not  so  very  different 
from  the  ordinary  work  of  the  long-established  universities 
where  they  were  located.  Furthermore,  they  were  under  the 
sympathetic  supervision  of  college  presidents  and  consci- 
entious deans,  whose  long  experience  with  college  students 
and  university  faculties  enabled  them  to  keep  the  new  schools 
running  smoothly,  even  when  the  young  majors  in  charge 
were  dismayed  at  the  extent  and  variety  of  their  new  re- 
sponsibilities. At  the  flying  fields  most  of  the  professional 
instructors  at  that  time  were  civilian  flyers,  whose  training 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  35 

was  for  the  most  part  not  of  the  kind  to  lead  to  results  that 
would  please  an  Inspector-General. 

Owing  to  the  shortage  of  flying  field  officers,  it  became 
necessary  to  replace  the  Junior  Military  Aviator  Majors  in 
many  cases  with  older  officers,  whose  experience  in  the  regu- 
lar army  enabled  them  to  put  the  ground  schools  on  a  sounder 
basis.  They  were  carefully  selected  with  particular  reference 
to  their  having  had  previous  experience  in  instructional 
work.  Their  arrival  was  welcomed  by  the  Presidents  of  the 
Academic  Boards.  The  more  mature  years  of  the  new  com- 
mandants, their  experience  in  dealing  with  civilians  and  sol- 
diers, and  longer  years  of  service  in  various  parts  of  the  army 
enabled  them  to  overcome  the  drawbacks  that  arose  at  first 
from  their  lack  of  knowledge  of  aeronautics. 

One  of  the  things  which  had  to  be  worked  out  was  the 
proper  division  of  authority  between  the  Commandant  and 
the  President  of  the  Academic  Board.  After  several  months 
of  experiment,  the  following  system  was  adopted :  The  Com- 
mandant had  general  supervision  over  the  entire  school,  and 
inparticularwasthecommandingofficerof  the  troopson  duty 
at  that  school.  It  was  his  duty  to  make  frequent  inspection  of 
the  tuition  furnished  by  the  university  in  accordance  with  the 
terms  of  its  contract  with  the  War  Department.  It  was  also 
his  duty  to  report  to  the  President  of  the  Academic  Board 
any  discrepancies  in  instruction  or  the  work  of  the  instruc- 
tors. The  President  of  the  Academic  Board  was  expected 
to  discharge  such  instructors  as  in  the  opinion  of  the  Com- 
mandant were  not  competent. 


36     "     •  AN  EXPLORER 

The  President  of  the  Academic  Board  was  in  charge  of 
all  technical  instructors,  and  instructions  to  them  were  is- 
sued by  him  rather  than  by  the  Commandant,  but  the  Com- 
mandant was  in  direct  charge  of  all  students,  since  they 
were  enlisted  men,  and  orders  to  them  were  issued  by  him 
or  by  officers  authorized  by  him.  It  was  found  to  be  imprac- 
ticable for  the  President  of  the  Academic  Board  to  have  direct 
connection  with  the  military  side  of  the  school.  At  the  same 
time,  there  was  a  strong  desire  on  the  part  of  many  of  the  stu- 
dents to  "take  their  troubles  to  the  Dean"  rather  than  to  the 
C.  O.  The  rule  was  established  that  students  should  obtain 
permission  from  the  officer  in  charge  of  their  barracks  be- 
fore conferring  with  the  President  of  the  Academic  Board. 
In  this  way,  the  general  practice  in  the  service  of  reaching 
higher  authority  through  proper  military  channels  was  em- 
phasized. One  of  the  most  difficult  things  for  the  average 
officer  and  man  in  our  great  new  army  to  learn  was  that  the 
rule  concerning  "military  channels"  was  not  designed  to  pre- 
vent him  from  reaching  the  highest  authority,  but  was  only 
intended  to  facilitate  his  doing  so. 

The  Commandant  was  urged  to  establish  cordial  relations 
with  the  students  and  to  make  himself  easy  of  access.  He  was 
held  responsible  for  the  character  of  the  instruction,  both 
military  and  technical.  While  it  was  necessary  that  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  Academic  Board  and  the  officer  in  charge  of  the 
Department  of  Military  Studies  should  be  independent  of 
one  another,  it  was  equally  important  for  the  Commandant 
to  coordinate  and  unite  the  efforts  of  these  separate  branches. 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  37 

Under  our  contract  with  the  universities,  they  furnished 
all  equipment  except  Government  publications,  quarter- 
master supplies,  and  special  aeronautical  equipment,  such 
as  motors,  airplanes,  and  spare  parts.  Machine  guns,  am- 
munition, and  confidential  material  were  also  furnished  by 
the  War  Department.  The  universities  furnished  the  neces- 
sary instructors  and  other  facilities  needed  for  the  proper 
operation  of  the  school.  In  return,  the  Government  agreed 
to  pay  a  specified  tuition  fee  for  each  man  receiving  in- 
struction ($10  per  week  for  the  first  four  weeks  and  $5 
per  week  thereafter),  to  furnish  equipment  of  a  special 
nature  not  procurable  by  the  university,  the  curriculum  of 
instruction  to  be  followed,  and  such  special  information  of 
instructional  character  as  could  be  secured  by  the  War 
Department  from  time  to  time.  At  first  cadets  received 
$33  per  month ;  later,  $100  per  month,  plus  allowances  for 
rations.  July  1,  1918,  the  pay  of  cadets  was  again  reduced 
to  $33,  a  procedure  that  did  not  raise  the  morale  of  a  volun- 
teer corps  where  actual  danger  to  life  and  limb  in  the  flying 
schools  was  very  great. 

The  course  of  study  consisted  of  eight  weeks,  later  in- 
creased to  twelve.  The  Junior  Wing  of  three  weeks  was 
given  over  to  intensive  military  training,  instruction  in  mili- 
tary topics,  and  practical  work  on  the  machine  gun  and  the 
radio  buzzer.  The  Senior  Wing  consisted  of  five  weeks  of 
lectures  and  laboratory  instruction,  and  included  signalling 
with  buzzer,  lamp,  and  panelled  shutter,  and  a  few  lectures 
on  the  care  of  the  radio  apparatus ;  care  of  machine  guns, 


38  AN  EXPLORER 

and  practice  in  clearing  jams ;  lectures  on  bombs,  theory  of 
flight,  cross-country  flying,  meteorology,  and  night  flying ; 
explanation  of  instruments  and  compasses  ;  practical  work 
in  map  reading ;  lectures  on  types  of  airplanes ;  classroom 
work  in  aerodynamics ;  practical  work  in  rigging  and  re- 
pairing ;  lectures  on  the  principles  of  internal  combustion 
motors  and  on  the  care  of  motors  and  tools ;  practical  work 
with  various  types  of  engines ;  a  little  practice  in  trouble 
shooting ;  lectures  on  the  theory  of  aerial  observation,  with 
special  reference  to  observing  artillery  fire ;  practical  work 
with  the  buzzer  on  a  miniature  artillery  range ;  and  a  few 
lectures  on  liaison  with  infantry,  and  the  latest  tactics  of 
fighting  in  the  air. 

In  order  to  standardize  the  instruction  in  the  British 
Schools  of  Military  Aeronautics,  the  Royal  Flying  Corps 
had  found  it  necessary  to  have  all  examinations  set  and 
read  by  a  central  office.  This  scheme  was  practical  in  Eng- 
land because  the  schools  at  Oxford  and  Reading  were  so 
near  to  London.  It  was  entirely  impractical  in  America,  on 
account  of  the  great  distances  separating  our  schools  from 
Washington.  So  we  met  the  necessity  of  keeping  the  schools 
at  uniform  grade  by  sending  out  frequent  inspectors  and  by 
having  all  examination  papers  sent  to  Washington  after  they 
had  been  read  and  marked.  Questions  were  set  by  the  teach- 
ers who  taught  the  courses.  The  marks  which  they  gave 
were  accepted  by  us  as  final.  Our  ability  to  hold  "post  mor- 
tems"  on  their  work,  however,  enabled  us  to  check  up  on  in- 
structors who  showed  lack  of  imagination  in  inventing  new 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  39 

questions  or  whose  fatigue  had  interfered  with  their  using 
good  judgment  in  grading  the  papers. 

We  secured  the  services  of  trained  college  readers  like 
Captain  S.  Merrill  Clement  and  Lieutenant  Stanley  T. 
Williams  of  Yale  and  Captain  Cobb  of  Amherst  and  Lieu- 
tenant Clarence  G.  Andrews  of  Ohio  State  University  to  ex- 
amine the  examination  papers.  While  it  was  not  necessary 
for  them  to  read  every  one  of  the  thousands  of  papers  that 
were  sent  in,  they  were  able  to  make  cross-sections  through 
the  mass.  When  weak  spots  were  discovered,  these  could  then 
be  further  investigated.  For  instance,  one  week  all  the  papers 
in  the  "Theory  of  Flight"  examinations  in  all  eight  schools 
were  read  and  the  type  of  instruction  in  this  subject  as  given 
in  each  school  was  thereby  brought  out.  If  it  proved  on  in- 
vestigation that  the  papers  from  one  of  the  eight  schools 
were  noticeably  much  better  than  the  others,  investigation 
of  all  the  papers  in  that  subject  from  that  school  was  made, 
and  the  result  sometimes  showed  that  the  excellence  of 
these  papers  was  due  not  to  the  excellence  of  instruction, 
but  to  the  fact  that  the  majority  of  the  questions  had  been 
used  repeatedly  in  recent  examinations,  so  that  it  had  been 
very  easy  for  the  careful  student  to  prepare  beforehand  to 
meet  just  those  questions.  On  the  other  hand,  if  one  of  the 
sets  of  papers  was  distinctly  inferior,  the  attention  of  the  Pres- 
ident of  the  Academic  Board  of  that  school  was  invited  to 
the  specific  details  wherein  this  particular  instructor  was 
not  maintaining  the  desired  standard. 

We  kept  a  very  careful  record  of  the  percentages  of 


40  AN  EXPLORER 

failures  at  each  school,  and  whenever  this  made  a  marked 
departure  from  the  general  average,  our  examining  officers 
would  read  all  the  papers  from  that  school  on  all  subjects 
for  the  past  month.  A  full  report  of  this  investigation  was 
then  forwarded  to  the  school.  It  was  a  new  experience  for 
most  of  our  instructors  to  be  checked  up  in  this  manner. 
Some  of  the  schools  liked  it  and  immediately  took  advan- 
tage of  the  reports  to  improve  and  strengthen  their  meth- 
ods of  instruction.  Others  resented  it  as  being  an  unwar- 
rantable attack  on  that  kind  of  academic  freedom  which  does 
not  like  to  be  criticised  or  too  closely  inspected. 

It  has  always  seemed  to  me  that  there  was  no  more  reason 
for  a  college  instructor  to  feel  hurt  at  frequent  inspection  of 
his  work  on  the  part  of  his  superiors  than  the  captain  of  a 
military  organization  at  the  weekly  inspection  carried  on  by 
his  superior  officer.  I  know  there  is  a  tradition  in  many  col- 
leges that  the  classroom  or  lecture-room  of  a  Professor  is  sa- 
cred to  him  and  his  class.  During  some  fifteen  years  of  col- 
lege teaching  at  four  American  universities,  I  do  not  remem- 
ber ever  to  have  had  the  president  of  a  university,  the  dean 
of  a  college,  the  head  of  my  department,  or  a  member  of  the 
corporation  or  board  of  trustees,  enter  my  lecture-room  or 
sit  through  a  class  exercise.  As  in  the  case  of  the  great  ma- 
jority of  instructors,  my  work,  instead  of  being  carefully  in- 
spected at  regular  intervals  as  it  was  in  the  army  by  represen- 
tatives of  the  Inspector-General's  Office,  was  judged  partly 
by  the  character  of  my  published  books  and  articles,  partly 
by  the  high  marks  or  number  of  failures  given  in  my  classes 


Nieuport  28,  Monosoupape  motor 


Nieuport  27,  120  H.P.  Le  Rhone  motor 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  41 

in  the  course  of  a  year,  and  partly  by  such  undergraduate 
gossip  as  came  to  the  ears  of  my  superiors.  In  the  army, 
an  officer  is  never  judged  on  barrack-room  gossip. 

Frequent  inspections  were  made  by  various  officers  from 
our  own  office  in  Washington.  In  this  way  the  schools  were 
kept  in  touch  with  one  another  and  with  the  latest  devel- 
opments in  the  air  programme,  difficulties  which  could  not 
easily  be  put  in  writing  were  informally  discussed,  and  it  is 
believed  that  much  good  was  accomplished.  The  following 
extracts  from  the  report  of  one  of  our  inspectors  concerning 
methods  of  teaching  at  the  Cornell  school  may  prove  of  in- 
terest, particularly  since  he  had  had  many  years  of  experi- 
ence as  a  college  professor. 

The  theories  of  the  gas  engine,  of  carburetion,  of  ignition,  etc., 
are  given  in  lectures.  After  each  period  a  man  is  given  a  chance  to 
see  and  work  on  the  subject  of  that  lecture  in  the  laboratory  and  to 
setde  any  question  that  may  be  troubling  him.  The  laboratory  classes 
are  conducted  on  less  military  lines  than  others,  giving  men  a  chance 
to  gather  around  the  engines,  ask  questions  of  the  instructors,  and 
figure  things  out  for  themselves.  The  head  instructor  is  in  the  labo- 
ratory constantly,  going  from  group  to  group,  explaining,  watch- 
ing, and  criticizing.  I  have  never  seen  in  any  laboratory  so  much 
interest  in  work  and  cooperation  between  instructor  and  student. 
The  attitude  of  the  men  is  one  of  careful  interest,  which  cannot  help 
but  follow  them  on  to  hangars  both  in  this  country  and  abroad. 
The  engines  are  left  at  a  certain  point  of  assemblage  at  the  end  of 
each  period.  Every  squad  finds  one  engine  in  exactly  the  same  con- 
dition when  it  comes  again.  A  log  book  is  kept  of  both  men  and 
engines  and  checked  off  so  that  every  man  will  get  exactly  the  same 
amount  of  work  and  the  engines  will  be  kept  at  the  proper  stages. 
Laboratory  work  at  present  is  observation  and  explanation  of 


42  AN  EXPLORER 

the  engines  with  some  work  on  them,  and  one  three-hour  period 
devoted  to  the  sketching  of  parts.  Small  clear  sketches  of  various 
parts  have  been  prepared  and  mounted  on  wood.  These  are  given 
to  the  students  to  copy.  Instructors  are  present  during  the  entire 
period  for  consultation,  and  when  a  man  has  finished  his  sketches 
he  must  submit  them  for  approval  with  his  own  explanation  of  the 
part  drawn.  This  serves  a  double  purpose — it  gives  an  understand- 
ing of  the  part  and  furnishes  the  student  with  a  good  drawing  for 
his  notebook.  Fourteen  lectures  are  given  in  all,  the  last  one  being 
a  lantern-slide  lecture  of  various  engines  and  their  parts.  The  head 
instructor  in  this  department  has  been  much  interested  in  the  devel- 
opment of  what  he  calls  an  entirely  new  method  of  teaching.  When 
he  first  started  he  says  that  he  had  no  idea  that  men  could  be 
taught  so  much  in  eight  weeks.  His  lectures  are  very  carefully  pre- 
pared and  mapped  out,  with  a  quiz  each  week.  He  and  his  assist- 
ants have  been  very  progressive  in  the  preparation  of  large  colored 
charts,  and  they  have  also  made  two  wooden  models  showing  skill- 
fully the  action  of  a  rotary  motor  and  the  principle  of  the  four- 
cycle engine. 

Whenever  helpful  accounts  of  methods  were  received,  or 
when  significant  paragraphs  came  in  the  weekly  reports 
from  the  Commandant  of  any  school,  they  were  immedi- 
ately sent  out  to  all  the  schools  as  suggestions.  Instructors 
were  encouraged  to  visit  flying  schools  and  other  ground 
schools  on  their  short  vacations.  Sometimes  this  led  to  their 
coming  back  with  increased  pride  and  satisfaction  with  their 
own  institution,  while  at  other  times  new  methods  of  teach- 
ing proved  worthy  of  adoption  and  caused  changes  at  home. 
The  cadets  all  felt  that  too  much  stress  was  laid  on  mil- 
itary discipline,  but  the  following  cablegram  from  General 
Pershing  was  responsible  for  the  rigorous  manner  in  which 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  43 

military  discipline  was  enforced  at  the  ground  schools.  It 
read  as  follows : 

I  cannot  too  strongly  impress  upon  the  War  Department  the  absolute 
necessity  of  rigid  insistence  that  all  men  be  thoroughly  grounded  in 
the  school  of  the  soldier.  Salutes  should  be  rendered  by  both  officers 
and  men  in  most  military  manner  with  especial  emphasis  on  right 
position  of  soldiers  in  saluting  and  when  at  attention.  A  prompt  mil- 
itary salute  is  often  misunderstood  by  our  people  but  it  simply  em- 
phasizes an  aggressive  attitude  of  mind  and  body  that  marks  the  true 
soldier.  The  loyalty,  readiness,  and  alertness  indicated  by  strictest  ad- 
herence to  this  principle  will  immensely  increase  the  pride  and  fight- 
ing spirit  of  our  troops.  The  slovenly,  unmilitary,  careless  habits 
that  have  grown  up  in  peace  times  in  our  army  are  seriously  detri- 
mental to  the  aggressive  attitude  that  must  prevail  from  highest  to 
lowest  in  our  forces.  Strict  methods  used  at  West  Point,  in  training 
new  cadets  in  these  elementary  principles,  have  given  the  Academy 
its  superior  excellence.  These  methods  should  be  applied  rigorously 
and  completely  in  the  forces  we  are  now  organizing. 

Pershing 

This  was  sent  us,  by  order  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  for  our 
"information  and  careful  guidance,"  and  we  made  every 
effort  to  carry  out  General  Pershing's  request 

It  was  conceded  by  British  officers  who  visited  our  schools 
in  the  summer  and  fall  of  1917  that  some  of  them  were 
quite  as  good  as  the  similar  schools  of  the  Royal  Flying 
Corps.  Perhaps  they  were  trying  to  flatter  us,  but  remem- 
bering that  British  officers  have  very  poor  reputations  as 
flatterers,  we  felt  greatly  encouraged.  The  school  which  par- 
ticularly aroused  the  praise  and  admiration  of  our  visitors 
was  that  maintained  under  the  auspices  of  the  University 


44  AN  EXPLORER 

of  Texas  at  Austin.  The  credit  for  this  was  due  in  part  to 
Major  Ralph  E.  Cousins,  J.  M.  A.,  who  organized  the  school 
and  was  its  efficient  Commandant  for  the  first  five  months 
of  its  existence.  His  success  was  due  largely  to  his  faith  in 
the  academic  members  of  the  faculty,  and  in  particular  in  the 
President  of  the  Academic  Board,  Professor  J.  M.  Bryant. 

Professor  Bryant  had  been  one  of  the  delegates  to  Toronto, 
and  had  shown  great  enthusiasm  for  the  courses  there  and 
the  possibility  of  adapting  them  to  the  needs  of  American 
students.  His  weekly  reports  forwarded  to  Washington  by 
the  Commandant  showed  a  remarkable  power  of  grasping 
new  problems  as  they  arose  and  dealing  with  them  in  a  spirit 
of  most  cordial  cooperation  with  the  army.  It  was  chiefly 
owing  to  his  skill  as  an  administrator,  and  his  remarkable 
devotion  to  securing  the  best  possible  results  with  the  stu- 
dents that  were  sent  him,  that  this  school  achieved  such  suc- 
cess in  securing  the  highest  praise  not  only  from  the  British 
officers  who  inspected  it,  but  also  from  General  Squier  and 
his  subordinates.  General  Squier  said  the  cadets  here  re- 
minded him  more  of  West  Pointers  than  any  he  had  ever  in- 
spected. The  success  of  this  school  was  due  also  to  President 
Robert  E.  Vinson  of  the  University  of  Texas,  whose  whole- 
hearted patriotism  made  him  grant  immediately  every  re- 
quest which  we  made  of  him  at  a  time  when  local  difficul- 
ties and  the  animosity  of  the  Governor  of  Texas  might  easily 
have  justified  him  in  hesitating. 

In  a  similar  manner,  Professor  B.  M.  Woods,  President 
of  the  Academic  Board  in  the  school  at  the  University  of 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  45 

California,  by  his  enthusiastic  and  whole-hearted  coopera- 
tion built  up  a  plant  that  won  General  Squier's  warmest 
praise.  Excellent  work  was  done  at  Berkeley.  The  Regents 
of  the  University  of  California  deserve  to  be  particularly  re- 
membered for  their  prompt  action.  At  a  time  when  all  parts 
of  the  country  were  willing  to  do  their  utmost  to  cooperate 
in  winning  the  war,  no  Board  of  Trustees  showed  greater 
speed  in  voting  credits  and  erecting  temporary  structures  to 
meet  the  needs  of  a  new  school. 

The  Trustees  of  Princeton  University  gave  us  the  use  of 
their  newest  dormitories,  and  her  officials  determined  to  do 
everything  in  their  power  to  make  their  school  the  best  of 
the  eight.  President  Hibben's  long  devotion  to  the  cause  of 
Preparedness  had  led  us  to  expect  that  Princeton  would  not 
be  behindhand  in  offering  special  facilities  for  carrying  on 
the  work  of  her  ground  school,  and  we  were  not  disappointed. 
In  November  this  school  was  visited  by  the  late  Colonel 
Theodore  Roosevelt,  who  wrote  me  that  he  was  "immensely 
pleased"  with  it  and  with  the  character  of  the  men  in  it. 

Cornell  was  fortunate  in  being  able  to  devote  her  mag- 
nificent new  armory  entirely  to  our  needs.  President  Schur- 
man  strained  every  nerve  to  meet  our  requirements  and  to 
make  the  school  successful.  Its  location  near  the  Thomas- 
Morse  airplane  factory  gave  the  Cornell  students  an  oppor- 
tunity of  coming  into  closer  touch  with  the  progress  of 
American  flying  than  the  students  at  the  other  schools.  Cor- 
nell's excellent  course  in  motors  has  already  been  described. 

The  success  attained  by  the  school  at  the  University  of 


46  AN  EXPLORER 

Illinois  was  due  chiefly  to  the  untiring  efforts  of  Dean  David 
Kinley,  and  the  determination  of  his  faculty  to  put  their 
school  first  in  point  of  advanced  methods  of  teaching. 
Under  the  zealous  supervision  of  President  Thompson  and 
later  of  Professor  Blake,  the  school  at  Ohio  State  University 
was  also  fortunate  in  securing  special  buildings  for  its  use. 
It  was  most  encouraging  during  moments  of  depression 
at  Washington  to  receive  visits  from  earnest  patriots  like 
President  Thompson  and  President  Hibben,  and  to  realize 
the  extent  to  which  they  were  willing  to  go  to  enable  the  air 
programme  to  succeed. 

The  Georgia  Institute  of  Technology  at  Atlanta  and  the 
Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology  at  Cambridge  also 
had  engineering  laboratories  well  adapted  to  the  needs  of  the 
new  schools.  At  Atlanta  two  student  dormitories  were  as- 
signed to  our  use,  while  at  Cambridge  barracks  were  estab- 
lished in  available  quarters  of  that  splendid  new  group  of 
buildings.  The  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology  was 
the  only  one  of  the  eight  schools  that  had  for  several  years 
past  been  developing  special  courses  in  aerodynamics.  Con- 
sequently, it  was  particularly  well  situated  for  training  Aero- 
nautical Engineers,  when  the  need  arose  for  having  a  special 
school  for  that  purpose.  The  Georgia  School  developed  a  good 
course  in  Military  Studies  under  Captain  Blake — formerly 
Sergeant  on  duty  at  Miami — and  was  selected  to  train 
Aviation  Supply  Officers.  Adjutants  were  trained  at  Ohio 
State  University.  Thus  three  of  the  ground  schools  came 
to  be  used  largely  for  the  training  of  non-flying  officers. 


Morane-Saulnier  Monoplane,  type  30,  Monosoupape  motor 


Spad,  225  H.P.  Hispano-S'uiza  motor 


CHAPTER  V 

SELECTING  THE  FITTEST 

CANDIDATES  for  commissions  in  the  Air  Service 
were  secured  from  civil  life,  Reserve  Officers  Training 
Corps,  colleges,  and  the  Regular  Army.  The  objects  of  the 
schools  of  military  aeronautics  were:  first,  to  teach  the  can- 
didates their  military  duties  and  to  develop  in  them  soldierly 
qualities  and  prompt  obedience;  second,  to  give  a  certain 
limited  amount  of  training  in  such  things  as  could  properly 
be  taught  at  a  ground  school,  namely,  aerodynamics,  gun- 
nery, radio,  internal  combustion  motors,  aerial  tactics,  and 
cooperation  with  other  arms  of  the  service ;  and  third,  to 
weed  out  those  who  were  mentally,  morally,  or  physically 
unfitted  to  become  flying  officers. 

In  view  of  the  large  number  of  applicants,  the  tens  of 
thousands  of  young  men  who  were  anxious  to  fly,  the  enor- 
mous expense  of  flying  instruction  (our  allies  estimated  that 
it  was  costing  them  about  $25,000  for  every  military  avia- 
tor sent  to  the  Front),  the  shortage  of  training  equipment, 
the  scarcity  of  flying  schools  (our  flying  schools  were  not  all 
completed  even  by  the  time  the  Armistice  was  signed),  and 
the  necessity  of  getting  the  best  men  trained  as  rapidly 
as  possible,  it  was  felt  that  the  most  important  function 
of  the  ground  school  was  the  elimination  of  those  who  did 
not  give  immediate  promise  of  becoming  good  flying  offi- 
cers. About  twenty-five  per  cent  of  those  who  passed  the 
physical  examining  board  and  the  preliminary  "once  over" 


48  AN  EXPLORER 

given  by  the  aviation  examiner,  were  dropped  from  the 
ground  schools  and  given  an  opportunity  to  enlist  in  some 
other  branch  of  the  service,  or  to  join  an  air  squadron  as 
enlisted  men  and  take  their  chance  of  later  being  recom- 
mended by  squadron  commanders  as  worthy  of  being  given 
a  second  opportunity  to  train  as  candidates  for  commission. 

The  plan  was  adopted,  and  during  the  six  months  of  my 
occupancy  of  the  directorship  of  the  Schoolsof  Military  Aero- 
nautics rigidly  adhered  to,  of  permitting  the  commanding 
officers  of  the  schools  to  discharge  a  man  for  cause,  or  to 
grant  those  students  who  failed  in  any  subject  the  oppor- 
tunity of  being  placed  on  probation.  One  more  failure,  and 
the  student  was  automatically  dropped  and  his  place  filled 
by  a  new  aspirant.  This  system  undoubtedly  worked  hard- 
ship in  many  cases  and  deprived  us  of  the  services  of  many 
men  who  would  have  made  excellent  pilots.  On  the  other 
hand,  it  justified  itself  in  the  results  on  the  flying  fields, 
where  it  was  seldom  necessary  to  interfere  with  the  expen- 
sive flying  training  of  a  pilot  because  of  his  stupidity  or  the 
inferiority  of  his  mental  or  moral  calibre. 

While  it  seemed  doubtful  to  some  military  aviators  at 
first  whether  the  professional,  but  non-flying,  instructors  of  a 
university  would  be  able  to  pass  the  right  kind  of  pilot  per- 
sonnel, the  results  soon  convinced  them  that  the  system  was 
right.  Two  of  the  first  cadets  to  go  from  the  School  of  Military 
Aeronautics  at  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology 
disappointed  the  officers  at  the  Mineola  Flying  School.  One 
of  them  was  rapidly  eliminated  and  the  other  had  been  or- 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  49 

dered  before  the  board  for  elimination,  when  word  was  re- 
ceived that  both  of  these  students  had  in  reality  failed  to  grad- 
uate, but  due  to  the  ramifications  of  red  tape  had  not  received 
their  discharge  papers  before  being  sent  to  Mineola.  This 
circumstance  naturally  increased  the  confidence  of  the  flying 
officers  in  the  work  of  the  ground  school  instructors. 

While  at  that  time  there  was  no  suitable  physical  means 
of  determining  whether  a  man  lacked  the  proper  sense  of  bal- 
ance to  become  an  acrobatic  flyer,  the  severe  requirements 
of  the  ground  schools,  the  necessity  for  learning  a  large  num- 
ber of  new  things  in  a  very  short  time,  the  need  of  working 
under  high  pressure  for  several  weeks  without  breaking 
down,  and  the  skill,  enthusiasm,  and  good  judgment  dis- 
played by  the  self-sacrificing  instructors,  who  were  willing 
to  give  up  the  opportunity  for  more  brilliant  service  abroad, 
combined  to  produce  a  splendid  body  of  graduates. 

There  were  undoubtedly  a  number  of  cases  where  we  lost 
some  excellent  personnel  owing  to  mistakes  in  judgment  on 
the  part  of  officers  charged  with  determining  the  standards 
and  setting  the  tests.  It  was  General  Squier's  feeling,  however, 
that  where  so  many  thousands  of  the  best  youth  of  America 
were  striving  to  get  into  what  we  believed,  and  what  they 
believed,  to  be  the  most  attractive  branch  of  the  service,  we 
were  justified  in  declining  to  continue  as  candidates  any 
about  whom  there  should  arise  the  slightest  doubt.  To  the 
individuals  concerned,  the  adverse  decisions  seemed  unac- 
countably severe  and  often  unfair.  From  an  intimate  know- 
ledge of  how  these  decisions  were  reached  during  the  first 


50  AN  EXPLORER 

ten  months  of  our  participation  in  the  war,  I  can  say  without 
fear  of  contradiction  that  our  sole  motive  in  making  these 
decisions  was  the  desire  to  see  the  American  Air  Service 
contain  only  the  most  efficient,  mentally  alert,  physically 
perfect,  and  soldierly  body  of  young  men  to  be  found  in  the 
American  Army.  Over  and  over  again  senators,  represen- 
tatives, distinguished  citizens,  and  depressed  parents  came 
to  beg  special  consideration  for  sons,  nephews,  cousins, 
friends,  and  acquaintances.  Their  calls  used  up  a  lot  of  time, 
but  their  importunity  deserved  the  most  sympathetic  treat- 
ment Due  to  the  remarkable  efficiency  of  Miss  F.  Pol,  who 
was  in  charge  of  our  files,  we  were  able  to  answer  questions 
quickly  and  locate  the  cause  of  the  trouble,  even  though 
this  seldom  completely  satisfied  our  callers. 

The  average  American  citizen  took  the  attitude  that  any 
young  fellow  who  was  willing  to  enter  the  hazardous  game 
of  aviation  was  thereby  exhibiting  such  tremendous  patri- 
otism and  extraordinary  courage  that  he  ought  to  be  lightly 
wafted  on  his  way  into  the  air,  notwithstanding  any  men- 
tal deficiency  which  the  ground  school  examinations  had 
disclosed.  One  congressman  even  wanted  imperfect  eye- 
sight to  be  waived ! 

The  fact  that  there  were  at  least  50,000  young  Ameri- 
cans all  eager  to  become  pilots,  and  that  the  War  Depart- 
ment could  not  afford  to  give  "  the  most  expensive  education 
in  the  world"  to  any  except  those  who  were  best  qualified  to 
use  it,  did  not  appeal  to  the  caller  who  had  been  so  deeply 
impressed  by  the  willingness  of  the  one  young  man  in  whom 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  51 

he  was  interested  to  take  the  "fearful  risks"  of  military 
aviation.  Some  callers  were  more  insistent  than  others.  In 
the  ten  months  that  I  was  on  duty  in  Washington,  I  do  not 
remember  receiving  a  single  communication  from  a  New 
England  senator  asking  for  special  consideration  for  one  of 
his  constituents,  although  the  rate  of  failure  was  very  high 
in  the  School  of  Aeronautics  at  the  Massachusetts  Institute 
of  Technology,  and  the  New  England  Examining  Boards 
declined  to  pass  more  than  half  of  their  applicants.  In  strik- 
ing contrast  was  the  extraordinary  amount  of  correspond- 
ence that  poured  in  over  the  signatures  of  some  of  the  south- 
ern senators.  I  suppose  some  one  will  be  able  to  offer  a  con- 
vincing reason  for  this  extraordinary  disparity. 

We  tried  to  see  that  each  one  got  a  square  deal,  but  we 
insistently  refused  to  make  exceptions  and  grant  favors  even 
to  senators  who  happened  to  be  members  of  the  Military 
Affairs  Committee,  or  owners  of  powerful  newspapers  who 
felt  that  because  they  had  supported  the  Administration  they 
deserved  special  consideration.  Some  of  their  young  friends 
went  to  Canada.  It  was  quite  obvious  that,  by  placing  at- 
tractive flying  schools  so  near  our  large  centres  of  population, 
the  Royal  Flying  Corps  had  reasonable  expectations  of  secur- 
ing many  very  capable  volunteers  from  the  United  States 
who  could  quietly  travel  across  the  line  and  pass  themselves 
off  as  Canadians  if  they  so  chose.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  a  large 
number  did  so  elect,  and  some  of  the  most  brilliant  pilots  of 
that  splendid  corps  were  young  Americans  who  either  could 
not  wait  for  our  slow  grinding  machinery  to  reach  them  or 


52  AN  EXPLORER 

else  had  not  been  able  to  measure  up  to  the  physical  or  men- 
tal requirements  which  we  were  able  to  maintain  by  reason 
of  the  enormous  supply  of  first  class  material  that  was  offered 
to  us.  The  British  had  been  fighting  for  so  long,  and  both  they 
and  the  Canadians  had  been  so  lavish  of  their  finest  youth, 
that  it  was  obvious  they  were  unable,  in  1917,  to  maintain 
as  high  a  mental  or  physical  standard  as  we  were. 

On  July  14,  1917,  when  the  first  class  of  132  graduated 
from  the  ground  schools,  1570  cadets  had  been  accepted 
for  training,  and  1370  had  been  sent  to  the  ground  schools. 
Four  months  later,  when  I  left  the  Schools  Division  to  take 
up  my  new  duties  in  the  Personnel  Division,  6670  cadets 
had  been  sent  to  the  ground  schools,  3140  had  been  gradu- 
ated, and  of  these,  more  than  500  had  already  been  grad- 
uated from  American  flying  schools  as  Reserve  Military 
Aviators. 

A  great  many  of  those  who  successfully  passed  the  ground 
schools  and  became  pilots,  in  looking  back  on  their  courses, 
were  grateful  for  the  excellent  teaching  they  had  received 
in  the  fundamentals  of  machine  gun  care  and  operation, 
motor  construction,  and  radio  sending  and  receiving.  On 
the  other  hand,  many  became  pursuit  pilots  in  France  and, 
therefore,  had  no  occasion  to  send  or  receive  radio,  nor  op- 
portunity to  use  the  Lewis  machine  gun  (which  had  been 
the  only  one  available  in  the  early  days  of  the  ground  schools), 
and  no  occasion  to  use  the  Curtiss  or  Hall-Scott  motor  (again 
the  only  ones  available  for  early  instructional  purposes).  They 
felt  that  their  eight  weeks  in  the  ground  schools  had  been 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  53 

a  total  loss  of  time.  No  one  can  blame  them  for  feeling  so. 
Very  few  of  them  appreciated  the  fact  that  the  elimina- 
tion of  those  not  so  mentally  alert  as  themselves  was  greatly 
to  their  advantage  and  aided  materially  in  speeding  up 
the  work  at  the  flying  schools.  The  first  graduates  were 
less  inclined  to  feel  any  gratitude  to  the  ground  schools  be- 
cause of  what  happened  in  France — but  that  is  another 
story. 

From  the  date  of  establishment  of  these  ground  schools, 
May  21,  1917,  up  to  their  discontinuance,  the  following 
number  of  flying  cadets  were  handled : 

Total  number  of  cadets  entered  22,689 

Total  number  graduated  17,540 

Total  number  discharged  5,149 

The  distribution  of  cadets  was  as  follows : 

Opened  Closed  Entered       Dis-      Grad- 

charged  uated 

University  of  Cal.,     May  21, 1917   Feb.      1,1918    3,737       705    3,032 

Berkeley,  Cal. 
Cornell  University,    May  21, 1917    Nov.  23,1918    3,645       833   2,812 

Ithaca,  N.  Y. 
Ga.  Sch.  of  Tech.,       July    2,1917    May  11,1918       406         79       327 

Atlanta,  Ga. 
University  of  III.,      May  21, 1917    Nov.  23, 1918   3,453       809    2,644 

Urbana,  HI. 
Mass.  Inst,  of  Tech.,  May  21, 1917    Sept.    7,1918       797       175       622 

Cambridge,  Mass. 
Ohio  State  Univ.,        May  21, 1917    Aug.  31, 1918    1,291       199    1,092 

Columbus,  Ohio 
Princeton  University,  July    2,1917     Nov.  23, 1918  3,586    1,088    2,498 

Princeton,  N.  J. 
University  of  Texas,    May  21, 1917    Feb.     1,1919  5,774    1,261    4,513 

Austin,  Texas 


54  AN  EXPLORER 

In  addition  to  the  above  mentioned  cadets,  there,  were  also 

entered  and  trained  during  this  period  the  following : 


Entered 

Discharged 

Graduated 

Supply  Officers 

963 

111 

852 

Engineer  Officers 

964 

238 

726 

Adjutants 

887 

98 

789 

In  the  spring  of  1918  an  Aviation  Concentration  Camp 
was  established  at  Camp  Dick,  Dallas,  Texas,  for  prelimi- 
nary training  of  ground  school  candidates  awaiting  assign- 
ment to  ground  schools,  and  graduates  of  ground  schools 
awaiting  assignment  to  flying  schools. 

The  last  curriculum  under  which  the  schools  operated 
provided  a  course  for  bombers  and  observers,  but  owing 
to  the  signing  of  the  Armistice,  these  courses  were  never 
actually  put  into  effect 

Such  text-books  as  the  following  were  used  in  connection 
with  our  courses :  Sherrill's  Military  Map  Reading,  Audel's 
Gasoline  Engines,  Von  Verkatz's  New  Methods  of  Machine 
Gun  Fire,  Barber's  The  Aeroplane  Speaks,  Loening's  Mili- 
tary  Aeroplanes,  Grieve's  Map  Reading,  Ellis  &  Carey's 
Plattsburg  Manual,  Rees'  Fighting  in  the  Air,  Moss'  Offi- 
cers^ Manual,  Milham's  Meteorology,  Carlson's  Notes  on 
Radio  Telegraphy,  Dyke's  Working  Models  of  Engines  and 
Magnetoes,  Burl's  Aero  Engines,  Keene's  Aero  Engines,  Page's 
Aero  Engines,  Mathew's  Aviation  Pocket  Book,  Zahm's  Aerial 
Navigation,  Savage  Arms  Co.  Machine  Gun  Catalog,  to- 
gether with  the  following  Government  publications :  Equip- 
ment for  an  Aero  Squadron,  Manual  of  Physical  Training, 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  55 

Infantry  Drill  Regulations,  Army  Regulations,  Field  Service 
Regulations,  Manual  of  Courts  Martial,  Silhouettes  of  Air- 
planes, Small  Arms  Firing  Manual,  Interior  Guard  Duty, 
Signal  Corps  Manual,  Unit  Equipment  Manual. 

My  right-hand  man  during  the  summer  and  fall  was 
Major  J.  Robert  Moulthrop.  He  was  an  invaluable  assistant 
He  later  took  entire  charge  of  the  schools.  He  was  in  turn 
succeeded  by  Captain  George  A.  Washington,  whose  legal 
training  and  long  interest  in  militia  activities  made  him  par- 
ticularly well  qualified  for  his  duties. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  PERSONNEL  OFFICE  IN  WASHINGTON 

ON  November  20,  1917,  General  Squier  asked  me  to 
take  charge  of  "Air  Personnel."  Lieutenant-Colonel 
Lippincott,  who  had  been  in  charge,  was  promoted  to  a  full 
Colonelcy,  placed  in  command  of  the  second  regiment  of 
Air  Service  Mechanics,  and  sent  overseas.  At  that  time  the 
Personnel  Section  of  the  Air  Division  was  occupying  part  of 
one  floor  in  the  old  Southern  Railway  building  at  119  D 
Street.  Most  of  the  clerks  had  but  recently  entered  the  War 
Department.  Many  of  them  were  school  teachers,  who  had 
never  used  a  filing  cabinet  or  acted  in  any  clerical  capacity 
whatsoever.  Few  had  had  any  training  in  a  business  office. 
Although  they  all  worked  with  goodwill  and  patriotic  devo- 
tion, they  greatly  needed  careful  instruction  and  practical 
experience. 

The  congestion  and  confusion  were  appalling.  Desks  were 
placed  as  closely  together  as  they  could  possibly  be  jammed 
and  still  leave  a  narrow  space  whereby  the  occupant  could 
come  and  go.  Thus  those  that  occupied  interior  desks  were 
unable  to  move  without  asking  two  or  three  others  to  move 
also.  No  effort  was  made  to  keep  out  callers,  and  every  one 
of  the  twenty-five  or  thirty  officers  then  in  charge  of  the  one 
hundred  and  fifty  clerks  was  subject  to  continual  interrup- 
tion on  the  part  of  both  candidates  and  officers  in  the  Air 
Service,  as  well  as  their  friends  and  congressmen.  Fifty 
filing  clerks,  most  of  them  entirely  without  training,  were 
huddled  together  at  long  tables  where  their  elbows  touched, 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  57 

and  where  the  conditions  under  which  they  labored  were 
such  as  to  produce  the  greatest  possible  confusion  in  the 
files.  It  usually  took  over  an  hour  to  find  a  desired  paper, 
and  frequendy  two  or  three  hours  would  be  spent  in  a  vain 
search  for  a  valuable  document.  Too  often  papers  could  not 
be  found  at  all,  as  many  unfortunate  candidates  will  re- 
member only  too  well. 

Our  incoming  mail  consisted  of  about  three  thousand 
pieces  daily,  or  as  many  as  in  that  of  the  Adjutant-General 
of  the  Army  at  the  beginning  of  the  war.  We  were  much 
worse  off"  than  he  was,  however,  for  the  officers  on  his  staff 
were  men  of  long  experience  in  the  regular  army  dealing 
with  familiar  problems  on  a  well-established  basis,  while 
with  one  or  two  exceptions  the  officers  then  on  duty  in  Air 
Personnel  were  near-civilians  with  very  slight  knowledge 
of  army  paper  work.  They  were  dealing  with  entirely  new 
problems  and  constantly  changing  regulations.  Furthermore, 
many  of  the  clerks  in  the  Adjutant-General's  office  had  been 
in  the  War  Department  for  years  and  were  thoroughly  fa- 
miliar with  the  ramifications  of  red  tape.  Our  clerks,  on 
the  other  hand,  were  nearly  all  entirely  new  to  War  Depart- 
ment requirements. 

There  was  no  adequate  system  of  distributing  the  mail. 
The  girls  at  the  distribution  desk  did  the  best  they  knew 
how,  and  when  in  doubt  put  the  letters  into  the  basket  of 
Captain  Dunham,  whose  remarkable  memory  enabled  him 
to  carry  on  his  desk  an  enormous  amount  of  detail.  Distri- 
bution baskets  were  labelled  with  the  names  of  officers  in- 


58  AN  EXPLORER 

stead  of  with  the  titles  of  subdivisions  of  the  office.  In  other 

words,  the  division  was  suffering  from  growing  pains. 

Fortunately,  there  was  in  the  division  an  officer  who  had 
had  experience  in  reorganizing  partly  defunct  factories — 
a  graduate  of  the  Harvard  School  of  Business  Adminis- 
tration, Captain  Willard  P.  Fuller.  He  understood  thor- 
oughly the  means  for  securing  a  scientific  distribution  of  the 
incoming  mail.  He  arranged  a  chart  which  showed  the  dis- 
tributors exactly  to  which  section  any  kind  of  inquiries 
should  be  sent.  In  each  one  of  the  sub-sections  separate 
distributing  desks  were  established,  so  that  all  mail  could 
promptly  reach  its  proper  destination.  It  seems  like  a  simple 
thing  now,  but  as  a  matter  of  fact  there  had  been  little  time 
to  develop  a  proper  organization  for  the  office  during  the 
period  of  its  phenomenally  rapid  growth. 

When  I  first  saw  the  division,  in  May,  1917,  its  work 
was  being  performed  by  one  officer  and  half  a  dozen  clerks. 
It  seems  incredible  that  Captain  Lippincott  should  have 
been  able  to  receive  callers  as  well  as  run  the  office  and 
dictate  letters.  He  worked  nights  and  Sundays.  The  rapid 
growth  of  the  office  and  the  tremendous  increase  in  the 
amount  of  mail  soon  snowed  him  under.  Greatly  handi- 
capped by  lack  of  space  and  lack  of  trained  assistants,  it 
soon  became  almost  impossible  to  handle  the  volume  of 
business  that  was  coming  in.  To  add  to  these  difficulties,  there 
were  constantly  increasing  demands  on  the  part  of  con- 
gressmen and  other  government  officials  that  their  friends 
receive  special  and  speedy  attention. 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  59 

My  first  month  at  his  old  desk  was  like  a  nightmare. 
It  will  be  remembered  that  it  was  in  the  middle  of  Decem- 
ber that  the  new  draft  law  went  into  effect,  so  as  to  prevent 
any  further  voluntary  enlistment  of  those  within  the  draft 
age.  As  the  date  approached,  our  callers  became  more  nu- 
merous, until  they  reached  more  than  500  per  day.  Had 
it  not  been  for  the  yeoman's  service  rendered  by  Lieuten- 
ant Walter  Tufts,  we  should  have  been  completely  over- 
whelmed. Applications  for  non-flying  commissions  rapidly 
increased.  During  the  week  ending  December  6  there  were 
only  80 ;  during  the  week  ending  December  13  they  rose  to 
1500 ;  and  the  following  week  there  were  almost  as  many. 

During  the  first  week  in  December  we  received  2700 
applications  from  would-be  pilots  who  had  made  up  their 
minds  to  take  their  chances  as  aviators  rather  than  as  soldiers 
in  the  draft  army.  In  the  week  ending  December  19  we  re- 
ceived 2900  applications  for  flying  commissions,  but  the 
following  week,  after  the  day  of  voluntary  enlistment  was 
passed,  applications,  although  still  permissible,  fell  to  1100; 
and  to  700  in  the  week  after  that.  Many  of  these  last  appli- 
cations, however,  came  from  soldiers  already  in  uniform. 

The  growth  of  the  Air  Service,  during  the  four  months 
in  which  I  was  familiar  with  the  details  of  the  Air  Per- 
sonnel Division,  went  from  a  total  of  about  30,000  enlisted 
men  on  the  20th  of  November,  1917,  to  126,000  on  the  21st 
of  March,  1918.  About  the  first  of  December,  General  Squier 
had  said  to  me  that  it  looked  as  though  the  difficulties  of 
securing  enough  planes  and  motors  had  been  solved,  but 


60  AN  EXPLORER 

that  we  were  not  going  to  have  enough  personnel  to  take 
care  of  them.  Consequently  we  made  a  strenuous  drive  dur- 
ing the  first  two  weeks  of  December  so  as  to  attract  into 
the  enlisted  ranks  of  the  Air  Service  as  many  skilled  me- 
chanics as  possible  before  they  should  be  caught  in  the  draft 
and  assigned  to  some  branch  of  the  service  that  might  not 
appeal  to  them  as  strongly  as  ours.  As  a  result  of  this  drive, 
we  gained  about  50,000  recruits.  Captain  Clayton  Dubosque 
was  largely  responsible  for  this.  His  training  in  publicity 
work  was  of  great  value. 

In  the  mean  time  I  had  made  every  possible  effort  to  se- 
cure more  space  for  our  hard-working  staff.  This  resulted 
in  our  being  transferred  to  a  large  loft  in  the  building  occu- 
pied by  the  Union  Garage.  Here  we  had  space  enough, 
to  be  sure,  but  the  fumes  and  poisonous  gases  that  came  up 
from  the  garage  caused  severe  headaches  and  greatly  re- 
duced the  efficiency  of  the  staff.  Meantime,  the  other  sec- 
tions of  the  Air  Division  had  moved  to  the  Barrister  Building, 
which  further  increased  the  difficulty  of  operation.  About 
this  time,  in  order  to  enable  quicker  action  to  be  taken,  the 
Personnel  Section  of  the  Air  Division  was  made  a  separate 
division  under  the  title  of  Air  Personnel  Division,  in  the  of- 
fice of  the  Chief  Signal  Officer  of  the  Army. 

Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  every  time  we  moved  we 
lost  at  least  two  days,  due  to  confusion  and  the  necessity 
of  getting  settled  in  new  quarters,  it  was  determined  shortly 
before  Christmas  to  move  again,  this  time  into  the  old 
post-office  building  on  K  Street  near  the  railroad  station. 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  61 

This  proved  to  be  most  satisfactory.  Here  we  had  three 
entire  floors — plenty  of  room  and  light,  comparative  quiet, 
and  freedom  from  the  noises  and  odors  of  the  garage.  Offices 
were  established  on  the  ground  floor  for  giving  special  at- 
tention to  visitors.  It  was  found  necessary,  also,  to  establish 
under  the  very  able  direction  of  Captain  (later  Lieutenant- 
Colonel)  John  B.  Reynolds  a  branch  to  handle  the  con- 
stantly increasing  correspondence  and  inquiries  made  by 
members  of  Congress  and  other  government  officials.  It 
was  believed,  however,  that  the  resulting  freedom  from 
interruption  that  was  thus  granted  to  the  heads  of  all  other 
branches  in  the  office  enabled  our  work  to  be  carried  on 
much  more  expeditiously  and  efficiently.  Colonel  W.  E.  Gil- 
more  as  Executive  Officer  of  the  Division  was  a  tower  of 
strength  in  meeting  and  solving  difficult  points.  Colonel  Harry 
Bull  kept  an  eagle  eye  on  the  candidates  and  accomplished 
wonders  in  eliminating  undesirables. 

A  few  more  highly  paid,  thoroughly  experienced  clerks 
were  obtained  under  special  dispensation,  and  the  work  of 
training  our  clerical  personnel  for  their  particular  tasks  and 
seeing  to  it  that  misfits  were  avoided  wherever  possible  was 
given  special  consideration.  The  files,  which  were  increas- 
ing at  an  astounding  rate,  were  still  far  from  satisfactory. 
Accordingly,  an  expert  and  twelve  assistants  were  put  on 
a  night  shift  with  orders  to  make  a  thorough  and  compre- 
hensive examination  of  all  the  files.  As  a  result,  hundreds 
of  errors  that  had  occurred  during  the  days  of  confusion 
and  congestion  were  discovered  and  corrected.  It  became 


62  AN  EXPLORER 

possible  to  reduce  the  number  of  filing  clerks  and  at  the 
same  time  secure  greater  rapidity  of  service,  so  that  by  the 
first  of  March  one  could  secure  the  papers  of  any  individual 
in  less  than  two  minutes. 

In  order  to  reduce  the  causes  of  friction  with  the  Ad- 
jutant-General's office  and  other  divisions  of  the  War  De- 
partment, including  the  various  branches  of  the  Air  Ser- 
vice itself,  a  number  of  officers  were  designated  as  Liaison 
Officers,  whose  duty  it  was  to  make  daily  visits  to  the  va- 
rious officers  with  whom  we  had  dealings,  listen  to  their 
complaints,  and  work  out  methods  of  improving  the  service. 

A  weekly  meeting  was  held  of  the  chiefs  of  all  sections. 
Reports  were  presented  and  results  were  shown  on  graphic 
charts  prepared  by  Captain  Fuller  and  hung  on  the  walls 
of  my  office.  Competition  between  the  different  sections  was 
keen.  Due  to  the  lack  of  familiarity  with  army  regulations 
and  also  to  the  constant  changes  brought  about  by  new  de- 
cisions, it  was  found  expedient  to  establish  an  Authorities 
Section,  to  which  copies  of  all  letters  containing  decisions 
and  new  policies  were  sent  Thanks  to  the  skill  and  devo- 
tion of  Captain  Hamilton  Hadley,  it  soon  became  possible  for 
the  officers  and  clerks  of  the  division  to  submit  here  all  doubt- 
ful points  and  learn  the  established  rules  and  procedure. 

When  I  became  Chief  of  the  Air  Personnel  Division, 
about  7500  candidates  for  flying  commissions  had  passed 
the  aviation  examining  boards  and  been  accepted  for  train- 
ing. Under  the  able  direction  of  Major  John  B.  Watson  and 
Captain  C.  C.  Little,  we  established  aviation  examining 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  63 

boards  at  most  of  the  great  concentration  camps  and  in 
thirty-two  of  the  principal  cities  of  the  country.  They  were 
able  to  examine  about  2500  candidates  a  week.  The  work 
of  the  examining  boards  was  found  to  be  very  uneven.  For 
instance,  the  board  in  Omaha  would  be  rejecting,  say,  twenty- 
five  per  cent  of  all  applicants,  while  that  in  Boston  would  be 
rejecting  sixty  per  cent.  It  was  found  necessary  to  give  the 
Examining  Boards  Section  of  the  office  a  sufficient  staff  to 
enable  the  boards  to  be  inspected  and  their  work  constantly 
correlated  and  compared,  so  as  to  approach  a  uniform  stand- 
ard as  far  as  possible. 

The  board  which  had  the  most  pressing  and  difficult 
problems  was  the  Washington  board.  Here  Major  William 
Larned,  Major  Robert  Wren,  and  later  Major  William  J. 
Malone  toiled  and  strove  with  all  possible  tact  and  judg- 
ment to  unravel  knotty  problems. 

During  the  next  four  months  the  number  accepted  for 
training  increased  to  19,500 ;  a  large  proportion  of  these  had 
been  sent  to  the  ground  schools,  and  2000  had  been  taught 
to  fly  and  been  recommended  for  commission.  These  figures 
will  give  a  little  idea  of  the  amount  of  work  that  had  to  be 
transacted  in  our  office,  where  the  orders  were  issued  and 
records  filed.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  kept  50  officers  and 
250  clerks  very  busy  six  days  in  the  week  and  quite  a  num- 
ber of  them  on  Sundays  as  well.  Undoubtedly  many  mistakes 
occurred  because  of  the  amount  of  work  that  had  to  be  placed 
in  inexperienced  hands.  Every  effort  was  made  to  expedite 
routine.  "Passing  the  buck  "was  eliminated  as  far  as  possible. 


64  AN  EXPLORER 

Speaking  of  this  ancient  game  in  which  a  piece  of  work 
or  any  other  disagreeable  duty  is  passed  from  one  person  to 
another  in  such  a  manner  "  chat  the  smallest  possible  por- 
tion of  the  work  or  duty  is  accomplished  and  the  identity  of 
the  person  whose  duty  it  is  to  do  it  is  hidden  from  the  per- 
son interested  in  having  it  done,"  the  following  article  which 
came  to  my  desk  in  France  from  an  anonymous  source  in 
the  summer  of  1918  may  prove  of  interest  to  those  who 
have  suffered,  and  will  certainly  arouse  sympathy  among 
many  who  have  endeavored  to  get  something  accomplished: 

"PASSING  THE  BUCK" 
The  claim  often  advanced  by  American  enthusiasts  that  the  game 
originated  in  the  United  States  is  not  founded  on  fact.  The  game  is  as 
old  as  history  and  as  widespread  as  geography. 

Wherever  and  whenever  it  originated,  its  development  and  per- 
fection in  the  United  States  have  made  it  to  all  intents  and  purposes 
an  American  game,  as  inseparably  American  as  chewing-gum  itself. 
Introduced  into  America  in  early  Colonial  times,  the  game  won  im- 
mediate and  lasting  popularity  among  all  classes,  but  its  greatest 
impetus  came  from  its  semi-official  adoption  in  Government  circles 
as  the  National  Indoor  Sport.  Its  growth  has  been  as  steady  and  as 
rapid  as  the  increase  in  population,  except  in  the  District  of  Colum- 
bia where  the  population  has  n't  been  able  to  keep  up.  In  no  other 
country  of  the  world  is  the  game  played  by  so  many  people,  or  with 
such  great  skill  and  daring. 

Army  Regulations  and  the  Quartermaster's  Manual  are  the  two 
principal  rule  books  of  the  game.  A  careful  study  of  them  will  give 
the  beginner  a  fairly  good  understanding  of  this  fascinating  sport. 
Besides  these,  there  are  many  other  rules,  some  of  which  will  be  found 
on  the  backs  of  the  numerous  forms  used  in  the  game,  but  most  of 
which  have  never  been  printed.  New  rules  are  being  made  even7  day 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  65 

to  cope  with  the  new  duties  and  labors  that  come  with  war.  The 
official  umpires  are  the  Auditor  for  the  War  Department  and  the 
Comptroller  of  the  Treasury.  They  are  seldom  appealed  to  except 
to  umpire  big  league  games,  but  their  services  are  available  to  all 
players,  from  the  newest  beginner  to  the  most  skilled. 

It  is  impossible  to  give  in  this  short  space  anything  like  a  com- 
plete description  of  the  game,  or  even  a  comprehensive  summary  of 
the  rules.  There  are,  however,  certain  general  principles  and  a  few 
rules  that  must  be  observed  in  counting  points,  and  which  may  profit- 
ably be  mentioned  here. 

First  of  all,  the  new  employee  should  bear  well  in  mind  that 
rendering  service  to  the  public,  or  trying  in  any  way  to  please  it,  is 
not  a  part  of  the  game.  New  employees  entering  the  service  from 
civil  life  often  bring  with  them  a  fund  of  enthusiasm  of  this  nature 
that  is  difficult  to  control.  This  enthusiasm  takes  the  form  of  an  in- 
sane desire  on  their  part  to  make  themselves  useful  and  agreeable  to 
the  general  public  with  which  they  come  into  contact,  and  to  their 
fellow  employees.  This  is  a  thing  most  studiously  to  be  avoided.  Its 
harmful  effects  are  threefold.  It  counts  against  the  player  himself  in 
the  game;  it  spoils  the  game  for  other  more  experienced  players;  and 
it  stores  up  trouble  for  the  new  player  against  the  time  when  constant 
floundering  in  the  meshes  of  red  tape  will  have  choked  from  him  the 
last  gasp  of  whatever  splendid  enthusiasm  he  may  once  have  had. 

When  there  are  ten  or  more  players  in  the  game,  and  the  buck  is 
passed  to  each  and  by  each,  in  turn,  until  it  makes  a  complete  circle, 
and  then  is  thrown  aside  without  any  actual  work  having  been  ac- 
complished, a  perfect  score  is  said  to  have  been  made,  and  everybody 
gets  a  hundred. 

Although  there  are  many  notable  cases  of  new  players  having 
been  conspicuously  successful  from  the  start,  the  finished  players  are, 
for  the  most  part,  men  who  have  been  long  in  the  service  and  grown 
up  with  the  game.  The  present  generation  owes  them  a  great  deal. 
The  skill  of  some  of  them  is  such  that  they  count  their  perfect  scores 
by  dozens,  and  even  by  hundreds.  It  is  said  that  the  man  who  com- 


66  AN  EXPLORER 

piled  the  Quartermaster's  Manual  was  voted  a  life  championship 
certificate,  and  then  permanently  disqualified  from  further  compe- 
tition in  amateur  games  on  the  ground  that  he  had  become  profes- 
sional. It  was  feared  that  if  he  continued  to  compete  in  amateur 
games  his  phenomenal  success  might  discourage  other  players  from 
putting  forth  their  best  efforts.  This  would  cause  a  lagging  of  inter- 
est that  might  bring  about  the  death  of  the  game  and  drag  Govern- 
ment work  down  to  the  level  of  ordinary  business  procedure. 

Every  one  who  could  do  so  was  glad  to  escape  from  the 
"meshes  of  red  tape."  At  the  beginning  of  the  war  our  swords 
were  sharp  and  we  could  cut  red  tape  freely,  but  as  time 
went  on,  the  necessity  for  playing  according  to  rule  in- 
creased, and  we  had  to  make  some  ourselves ! 

Apart  from  the  difficulties  of  organizing  and  operating  an 
office  which  utilized  the  services  of  so  many  officers  and  clerks 
who  had  had  no  army  experience,  our  greatest  difficulty  lay 
in  the  fact  that  the  General  Staff"  had  failed  to  prepare  an 
adequate  programme  or  set  down  in  advance  suitable  rules 
for  our  guidance,  and  adequate  tables  of  organization.  About 
the  middle  of  February  we  received  a  memorandum  from 
the  Air  Division  stating  that  fifty  thousand  more  enlisted 
mechanics  would  be  required  for  air  squadrons  during  the 
next  six  or  seven  months.  A  determined  effort  to  secure  these 
resulted  in  our  exceeding  the  specific  official  authorizations 
made  by  the  General  Staff.  It  was  apparently  understood  by 
the  officers  of  the  Air  Division  that  the  General  Staff  would 
increase  these  authorizations  as  fast  as  necessary,  but  I  be- 
lieve it  was  ultimately  found  imperative  to  transfer  a  con- 
siderable number  of  our  men  to  other  branches  of  the  service. 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  67 

In  order  to  get  things  done  promptly,  it  was  frequently 
necessary  to  go  far  beyond  what  had  been  authorized  and 
approved.  Oral  indications  of  the  desires  of  the  Chief  Signal 
Officer,  and  intelligent  guesswork,  had  to  be  relied  upon  to 
a  great  extent.  The  work  could  not  have  been  done  had  it 
not  been  for  the  splendid  enthusiasm  of  officers  like  Lieu- 
tenantGeroid  Robinson,  Captain  Julian  Ripley,  Major  Fickel, 
Major  Litchfield,  and  Major  C.  B.  Cameron,  who  brought 
all  the  experience  they  had  gained  in  their  previous  occu- 
pations as  men  of  business  or  professional  men,  and  with  it 
a  willingness  to  work  early  and  late,  Sundays  and  holidays, 
with  the  sole  desire  of  getting  everything  possible  done  to 
promote  the  air  programme. 

While  most  of  the  work  was  a  steady  grind  of  routine, 
there  came  through  the  mail  occasional  flashes  of  humor 
that  were  passed  around  to  cheer  up  every  one  in  the  office. 
Here  is  a  sample  reproduced  verbatim  except  that  the  names 
are  changed : 

SA-VOY  CAFE 

New  Tork,  1917 
War  Department, 

Washington,  Dc. 
Gentlemen:  — 

receive  your  letter  some  time  ago  and  papers  which  to  sign  but 
as  i  were  going  to  sign  i  dropped  a  bottle  of  ink  on  it,  and  so  i  am 
asking  you  to  forward  me  another  one  also  gentlman  i  wishes  to  ask 
you  by  reading  the  letter  you  state  that  i  have  to  have  three  years  of 
recognized  university  and  a  theoretical  knowledge  of  or  practical 
experience  with  internal  combustion  engines  so  i  wishes  to  say  that 


68  AN  EXPLORER     • 

if  any  man  that  wanted  to  join  the  aviation  section  will  have  to  learn 

so  i  only  asked  senator to  recommend  me  to  you  so  which  he 

did  and  which  i  thank  him  for  doing  so.  also  if  i  can  do  any  thing  for 
this  govment  i  will  be  glad  to  do  so  but  if  i  can  not  get  in  there  i 
wish  you  would  be  kind  enough  to  please  give  me  the  best  position 
so  please  give  me  a  position  before  they  go  to  conscrip  before  i  would 
be  conscriped  i  would  go  to  the  army  so  please  do  so  at  once. 

yours 

Sajed  n.  Loomid 

I  am  an  american  born  syrion 

i  am  five  feet  and  six  inc. 

i  weight  at  about  one  hundred  &  fourtyfive 
i  have  went  high  as  the  sixthgreade  but  have 
a  verry  good  education  also  i  have  a  verry  good 
and  smart  mind  and  am  verry  healthy  young  man  in 
every  reform  so  what  else  a  man  must  have. 

Here  is  another  one  that  gave  us  courage  and  cheered  us  on 
our  way : 

Richmond,  Va. 

October  11,  1917 
Gentlemen  : 

To  who  it  may  consern. 

I  Sam  Jones,  wishes  to  know  what  chances  you  will  give  me  in  the 
aviation  corps.  I  wont  something  that  will  let  me  fly  in  France  after 
6  moths  in  school  none  of  This  America  stuff.  My  teeth  are  not  in 
so  bad  condition  that  is  my  lower  ones,  But  my  uper  ones  are  false 
will  you  Please  give  spacial  Permition  my  health  is  fine  everything 
except  my  teeth.  I  stand  5'  8"  waight  143.  Penn.  Birth  and  nerve 
enuff  To  fight  a  Bull  dog  with  both  hands  tied  behind  me  nerves  fine, 
eye  sight  splendid. 

I  remane 

Your  ever, 

S.  J. 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  69 

The  enthusiasm  to  get  into  the  Air  Service  was  general 
throughout  the  country.  Woe  betide  the  unfortunate  Avia- 
tion Examining  Board  which  declined  the  application  of  a 
youth  whose  father  or  whose  uncle  was  locally  of  political 
importance.  Some  senators,like  my  classmate,  "Jim"  Wads- 
worth,  regularly  declined  to  interfere  with  the  routine  deci- 
sions of  examiners;  others  were  continually  calling,  writ- 
ing, or  telephoning  in  regard  to  the  cases  of  "sons  of  our 
best  families"  who  for  some  reason  or  other  were  being 
thwarted  in  their  commendable  desire  to  fly  in  France. 

Here  is  part  of  a  letter  that  objected  strenuously  to  the 
action  of  the  Indianapolis  Examining  Board.  It  illustrates 
some  of  the  difficulties  in  the  correspondence  that  we  had 
to  carry  on : 

I  certainly  regret  that  the  Indianapolis  Board  gave  an  unfavor- 
able report  upon  my  examination  for  I  believe  that  I  really  am  eligible 
to  the  above  service,  for  several  reasons,  and  I  certainly  do  wish  that 
you  would  permit  me  to  be  reexamined. 

At  no  time  have  I  ever  noticed  any  forces  other  than  balanced  ones 
at  work  upon  my  body  or  intuition  in  any  activity. 

My  fainting  has  always  been  due  to  a  mental  shock  I  receive  when 
I  allow  my  mind  to  ponder  upon  pain. 

Please  do  allow  me  another  trial  for  I  certainly  do  feel  that  I  can 
make  it. 

Occasionally  proposals  of  another  sort  got  into  our  mail- 
bag  and  had  to  be  passed  along  to  the  technical  experts. 


70  AN  EXPLORER 

There  was,  for  example,  this  plan  for  disguising  our  sub- 
marines and  enabling  their  work  of  discovering  enemy  sub- 
marines to  proceed  more  successfully : 

By  using  a  hull,  shaped  exactly  like  a  whale  composed  of  inner 
steel  lining,  outside  wood  casing,  and  a  rubber  covering,  with  power 
furnished  by  a  submarine  that  is  fastened underneath,  with  jaws  that 
open  and  close  and  which  is  an  inlet  for  water  that  is  later  on  forced 
out  of  the  blow  hole  on  the  whales  head,  this  being  done  with  the  aid 
of  a  force  pump. 

The  eyes  are  fitted  with  strong  lenses,  while  the  nostrils  are  made 
on  the  pattern  of  conical  shutters,  and  which  can  dialate  instantly  to 
allow  the  sending  of  a  torpedo.  Then  by  using  a  storage  battery  and 
motor  of  good  strength  and  with  a  gyroscopic  rudder,  a  torpedo 
could  be  given  a  definite  course;  and  be  able  to  travel  a  far  greater 
distance. 

As  a  rule,  however,  most  of  our  callers  were  concerned 
with  the  disaster  that  had  overtaken  them  or  their  friends 
in  not  being  able  to  pass  certain  "unimportant"  examina- 
tions. 

Captain  Reynolds,  who  received  many  of  our  callers, 
had  many  trying  experiences,  but  his  tact  and  courtesy  were 
unfailing.  He  saw  many  people  at  their  worst.  He  was 
sometimes  roundly  abused  by  influential  visitors  who  failed 
to  have  the  rules  altered  or  overlooked  in  their  favor.  But 
there  were  no  complaints  of  unfair  treatment  or  favoritism. 
Captain  Victor  Henderson  and  Lieutenant  Avery  Tomp- 
kins also  were  of  invaluable  assistance  in  smoothing  out 
difficulties. 


c 


I 


z 

■1 


XL 
m 


H 


CHAPTER  VII 

OVERSEAS 

ON  February  18,  1918,  there  came  a  cable  from  Gen- 
eral Pershing  which  contained  the  following  para- 
graph: 

Urgently  request  that  at  least  12  experienced  administrative  and 
executive  officers  be  sent  to  France  within  the  next  six  weeks  to  assist 
in  organization  and  training  of  air  service  personnel  in  France,  Eng- 
land and  Italy. 

Feeling  that  the  work  of  reorganizing  the  Air  Personnel 
Division,  which  had  been  given  me  three  months  previously, 
had  been  virtually  completed,  so  that  my  services  could  per- 
fectly well  be  spared  at  this  time  without  in  the  slightest 
degree  interfering  with  the  progress  of  that  department, 
I  wrote  on  February  25  to  General  Squier,  asking  to  be 
selected  as  one  of  the  twelve  officers  to  be  sent  to  France 
"within  the  next  six  weeks."  My  request  was  favorably 
considered,  and  after  the  twelve  names  had  been  chosen 
and  sent  to  France  for  approval  and  a  cable  received  di- 
recting that  the  twelve  be  sent  immediately,  I  was  given  my 
orders  in  the  last  week  in  March  and  immediately  left  for 
Hoboken. 

The  trip  across  on  the  Aquitania  was  interesting  as 
a  study  in  psychology.  She  was  at  that  time  almost  the 
largest  ship  on  any  ocean,  and  a  fairly  good  target  for  a  sub- 
marine. It  was  her  first  voyage  with  American  troops,  and 
there  were  rumors  that  the  Germans  were  going  to  make 


72  AN  EXPLORER 

a  special  effort  to  spoil  it  When  we  got  about  half-way 
over,  we  began  to  follow  an  extremely  irregular  course,  zig- 
zagging at  frequent  intervals  day  and  night,  so  as  to  make 
it  difficult  for  a  submarine  to  figure  out  where  we  would 
be  at  a  given  moment  and  lie  in  wait  for  us  at  that  point. 
This  zigzagging  had  an  interesting  result  One  night 
when  the  sea  was  running  rather  high,  we  had  frequently 
to  proceed  in  the  trough  of  the  sea.  This  caused  an  amount 
of  rolling  which  had  not  been  at  all  anticipated  when  the 
Aquitania  was  constructed,  and  for  which  no  provision  had 
been  made  by  securely  screwing  down  all  tables  and  chairs. 
As  it  was,  we  woke  up  to  hear  a  terrific  amount  of  noise. 
It  was  occasioned  by  tables,  chairs,  trunks,  boxes,  anything 
in  fact  that  was  not  rigidly  fastened  down,  rolling  about  on 
the  decks  and  in  the  staterooms.  The  adjutant's  office  just 
over  my  cabin  was  nicely  wrecked  by  tumbling  typewriters ! 
As  we  approached  the  active  submarine  zone,  we  were 
warned  to  have  our  life-preservers  always  at  hand,  never  to 
appear  without  them,  and  to  sleep  in  our  clothes.  There  was 
a  certain  amount  of  excitement  visible  on  all  faces  that  even- 
ing. The  next  morning,  when  a  loud  explosion  occurred  at 
dawn  and  the  ship  trembled  violently  and  there  was  a  sound 
of  breaking  glass,  followed  by  several  shots  from  the  ship's 
guns,  we  all  supposed  that  we  had  been  struck  by  a  tor- 
pedo. It  appeared,  however,  that  the  unusual  noise  and  con- 
cussion were  caused  by  one  of  our  own  six-inch  guns  firing 
at  a  periscope,  or  what  the  gun  crew  and  the  guard  watch 
believed  to  be  a  periscope,  which  suddenly  appeared  along- 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  73 

side  the  steamer  and  only  a  few  feet  away.  The  concussion 
from  the  shot,  which  passed  very  close  to  the  port  bulwarks, 
was  sufficient  to  blow  in  sheets  of  plate-glass  three-eighths 
of  an  inch  thick  in  the  cabins  on  that  side. 

Colonel  Butts,  of  the  2d  Division,  who  slept  in  one  of 
these  cabins  and  who  supposed,  as  did  every  one  that  was 
aroused  by  the  shot,  that  we  had  been  attacked  by  a  sub- 
marine, told  me  that  his  first  thought  was  of  wonder  as  to 
how  his  regiment  (none  of  whom  had  ever  been  under  fire) 
would  take  their  first  experience.  Others  said  their  first 
thought  was  of  extreme  anger.  A  distinguished  civilian 
whose  diplomatic  duties  had  forced  him  to  cross  several  times 
during  the  war,  and  who  had  become  more  hardened  to  sub- 
marine attacks  than  the  rest  of  us,  said  his  first  thought  was 
of  the  intense  coldness  of  the  water  and  the  "very  unpleas- 
ant" idea  that  he  would  soon  be  shivering  in  the  icy  waves! 

We  landed  in  Liverpool  on  April  1 1  after  a  fairly  ex- 
citing passage  in  which  we  fired  some  fifty  or  sixty  rounds 
at  what  were  supposed  to  be  periscopes.  The  chief  result 
of  our  firing,  so  far  as  I  could  learn,  was  to  irritate  the  cap- 
tains of  four  or  five  destroyers  which  were  convoying  us 
during  the  last  three  days  of  our  journey,  and  which  had 
several  narrow  escapes  from  our  shells. 

In  Liverpool  the  children  on  the  streets  looked  fairly  well 
fed.  The  dock  laborer  did  not  appear  to  take  the  war  too 
seriously.  A  few  days  before,  notwithstanding  the  extremely 
critical  situation  in  France  (the  great  German  spring  drives 
began  in  the  latter  part  of  March),  he  had  insisted  on  tak- 


74  AN  EXPLORER 

ing  his  three  days'  Easter  holiday  as  though  nothing  were 
happening.  The  bill  of  fare  at  the  hotels  was  very  meagre, 
however,  and  we  were  unable  to  get  any  meat,  since  we  were 
transients  and  had  no  meat  cards. 

In  London  it  was  the  same  way,  only  there  the  war  was 
felt  much  more  keenly.  Children  showed  the  effects  of  the 
shortage  of  butter  and  milk.  Some  of  our  friends  were  par- 
ticularly hard  hit.  It  made  one's  heart  ache.  Yet  on  the  chan- 
nel boats  from  Southampton  to  Havre  there  was  abundance 
of  everything,  including  meat  and  bread. 

I  landed  at  Havre  on  April  14,  and  discovered  that  my 
confidential  order  from  the  War  Department  to  "Report 
by  wire  to  the  Commanding  General,  etc.,"  was  a  joke 
played  on  all  casual  officers  who  went  overseas.  One  or  two 
had  actually  attempted  to  make  their  presence  known  to 
General  Pershing,  with  somewhat  unsatisfactory  results ! 
The  great  majority  of  us  meekly  consented  to  being  ordered 
by  the  very  polite  first  lieutenant,  who  met  us  here,  to  pro- 
ceed via  Paris  to  Blois. 

In  Paris  the  daily  bombardment  by  Big  Bertha  was  going 
on  and  causing  great  congestion  in  south-bound  trains. 
While  there  was  neither  butter  nor  sugar  at  the  hotels,  there 
did  not  appear  to  be  a  shortage  of  anything  else.  Bread  cards 
were  coming  into  use,  but  were  not  as  rigidly  demanded  as 
a  few  months  later.  It  was  an  interesting  commentary  on 
the  food  habits  of  the  two  nations  that  while  meat  tickets 
were  required  in  England,  none  were  needed  in  France. 
On  the  other  hand,  in  Paris  bread  tickets  were  in  use  while 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE 


75 


I  Z 
19 

I  9 

I  i 

9 
I 

0 

0 
0 


e  necessary  in  London.  Travellers  who  remember 
ous  "roast  beef  of  Old  England"  and  the  surpass- 
cy  of  French  rolls  will  need  no  further  explanation, 
cturesque old  town  of  Blois  with  its  charming  his- 
ateaux  and  its  winding  hilly  streets  on  the  banks 
ire  was  the  scene  of  more  heart-burning,  so  far  as 
ican  Army  was  concerned,  than  any  other  spot  in 
n  the  first  place,  here  were  gathered  hundreds  of 
cers  of  all  ranks  who  had  come  over,  many  of 
request  received  in  special  cable  from  General 
"  to  do  definite  and  "very  important"  work,  with 
es  of  being  able  immediately  to  take  their  share 
ng  this  war  to  a  triumphant  close.  Here  they  sud- 
nd  themselves  herded  together  with  others  equally 
ate  in  an  unimportant  town  far  from  G.  H.  Q. — 
er  from  the  front  line  trenches,  and  at  quite  a  con- 
distance  from  any  of  the  important  posts  to  which 
re  so  anxious  to  be  sent, 
ew  received  welcome  orders  to  proceed  elsewhere  and 
report  on  a  real  job  after  they  had  been  here  only  three  or 
four  days.  There  were  many  others  who  could  sympathize 
with  the  young  Lieutenant  in  the  Sanitary  Corps,  an  im- 
portant specialist  in  some  branch  of  Army  Sanitation  who 
had  been  "specially  cabled  for,"  and  who,  when  I  saw  him, 
had  been  in  Blois  nearly  six  weeks  doing  nothing.  He  was 
standing  in  the  lovely  old  garden  of  the  Bishop's  palace 
looking  out  toward  the  chateau  of  Chambord.  In  reply  to 
my  question  he  murmured:  "I  was  trying  to  discover  if 


74  AN  EXPLORER 

ing  his  three  days'  Easter  holiday  as  though  nothiiB 
happening.  The  bill  of  fare  at  the  hotels  was  very  M 
however,  and  we  were  unable  to  get  any  meat,  since  M 
transients  and  had  no  meat  cards. 

In  London  it  was  the  same  way,  only  there  the  \S 
felt  much  more  keenly.  Children  showed  the  effect* 
shortage  of  butter  and  milk.  Some  of  our  friends  w<fl 
ticularly  hard  hit  It  made  one's  heart  ache.  Yet  on  thfl 
nel  boats  from  Southampton  to  Havre  there  was  abufl 
of  everything,  including  meat  and  bread. 

I  landed  at  Havre  on  April  14,  and  discovered  til 
confidential  order  from  the  War  Department  to  "■ 
by  wire  to  the  Commanding  General,  etc.,"  was! 
played  on  all  casual  officers  who  went  overseas.  One  w 
had  actually  attempted  to  make  their  presence  knfl 
General  Pershing,  with  somewhat  unsatisfactory  rl 
The  great  majority  of  us  meekly  consented  to  being  ow 
by  the  very  polite  first  lieutenant,  who  met  us  here,  t£| 
ceed  via  Paris  to  Blois. 

In  Paris  the  daily  bombardment  by  Big  Bertha  was  going 
on  and  causing  great  congestion  in  south-bound  trains. 
While  there  was  neither  butter  nor  sugar  at  the  hotels,  there 
did  not  appear  to  be  a  shortage  of  anything  else.  Bread  cards 
were  coming  into  use,  but  were  not  as  rigidly  demanded  as 
a  few  months  later.  It  was  an  interesting  commentary  on 
the  food  habits  of  the  two  nations  that  while  meat  tickets 
were  required  in  England,  none  were  needed  in  France. 
On  the  other  hand,  in  Paris  bread  tickets  were  in  use  while 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  75 

none  were  necessary  in  London.  Travellers  who  remember 
the  delicious  "roast  beef  of  Old  England"  and  the  surpass- 
ing delicacy  of  French  rolls  will  need  no  further  explanation. 

The  picturesque  old  town  of  Blois  with  its  charming  his- 
torical chateaux  and  its  winding  hilly  streets  on  the  banks 
of  the  Loire  was  the  scene  of  more  heart-burning,  so  far  as 
the  x\merican  Army  was  concerned,  than  any  other  spot  in 
France.  In  the  first  place,  here  were  gathered  hundreds  of 
casual  officers  of  all  ranks  who  had  come  over,  many  of 
them  by  "request  received  in  special  cable  from  General 
Pershing"  to  do  definite  and  "very  important"  work,  with 
high  hopes  of  being  able  immediately  to  take  their  share 
in  bringing  this  war  to  a  triumphant  close.  Here  they  sud- 
denly found  themselves  herded  together  with  others  equally 
unfortunate  in  an  unimportant  town  far  from  G.  H.  Q. — 
still  farther  from  the  front  line  trenches,  and  at  quite  a  con- 
siderable distance  from  any  of  the  important  posts  to  which 
they  were  so  anxious  to  be  sent. 

A  few  received  welcome  orders  to  proceed  elsewhere  and 
report  on  a  real  job  after  they  had  been  here  only  three  or 
four  days.  There  were  many  others  who  could  sympathize 
with  the  young  Lieutenant  in  the  Sanitary  Corps,  an  im- 
portant specialist  in  some  branch  of  Army  Sanitation  who 
had  been  "specially  cabled  for,"  and  who,  when  I  saw  him, 
had  been  in  Blois  nearly  six  weeks  doing  nothing.  He  was 
standing  in  the  lovely  old  garden  of  the  Bishop's  palace 
looking  out  toward  the  chateau  of  Chambord.  In  reply  to 
my  question  he  murmured:  "I  was  trying  to  discover  if 


76  AN  EXPLORER 

there  were  any  place  within  the  radius  of  a  day's  walk  that 
I  had  not  yet  seen.  You  see  I  have  to  report  at  least  once  a 
day  for  orders."  It  certainly  gave  one  a  helpless  feeling  to 
be  unexpectedly  dumped  into  this  reservoir.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  General  Pershing  and  his  staff  were  drawing  from  it, 
as  fast  as  needed,  officers  required  for  different  positions. 

Blois  also  contained  another  and  more  serious  group  of 
unfortunates,  namely,  those  officers  who  had  failed  to  make 
good  on  the  job  to  which  they  had  been  first  assigned  and 
who  had  been  sent  back  for  reclassification.  When  one  con- 
siders the  fact  that  the  United  States  was  faced  with  the  ne- 
cessity of  commissioning  several  thousand  officers  after 
only  three  months'  intensive  training  in  camps  like  Platts- 
burg,  and  that  many  men  were  graduated  from  those  camps 
with  the  rank  of  Captain  of  Field  Artillery  who  had  never 
seen  at  close  range  a  modern  gun  until  a  few  weeks  previ- 
ous, it  is  small  wonder  that  there  were  a  goodly  number  who 
failed  to  please  the  critical  staff  officers  in  the  advanced 
training  area,  or  who  failed  to  measure  up  to  the  require- 
ments of  rapidly  changing  tactics  at  the  Front.  So  far  as 
one  could  judge,  there  was  no  partiality.  Efficiency  was  the 
only  watchword,  and  it  made  no  difference  whether  an  of- 
ficer was  a  member  of  the  regular  permanent  establishment, 
a  national  guardsman,  or  a  recently  appointed  reserve  offi- 
cer. If  he  failed  to  satisfy  those  who  were  held  responsible 
for  his  performances,  he  was  quickly  relegated  to  Blois. 
Naturally  his  presence  here  did  not  conduce  to  the  cheer- 
fulness of  the  historic  town,  but — thanks  to  an  enlightened 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  77 

policy  which  has  been  described  as  "salvaging  human 
material" — he  was  in  most  cases  speedily  fitted  into  another 
job  which  the  Classification  Board  decided  was  better  suited 
to  his  capacity.  A  few  were  sent  home. 

It  is  not  a  pleasant  sight,  however,  to  see  forty  or  fifty 
"failures"  gathered  together  to  come  before  an  "Efficiency 
Board,"  and  this  undoubtedly  added  to  the  anxiety  of  the 
recently  arrived  casual  officers.  To  be  sure,  a  few  of  the 
younger  ones  were  kept  busy  drilling  replacement  troops 
and  casuals  just  out  of  the  hospital,  but  most  of  us,  after 
having  walked  through  the  Chateau  three  or  four  times  and 
having  exhausted  our  ingenuity  in  attempting  to  get  word 
to  General  Pershing  that  in  accordance  with  his  cabled 
request  we  had  arrived,  found  the  time  hang  rather  heavily 
on  our  hands. 

At  last,  however,  the  orders  came  for  me  to  go  to  Tours, 
which  was  at  that  time  the  headquarters  of  the  "S.  O.  S." — 
Services  of  Supply,  known  at  various  times  by  the  names 
of  Lines  of  Communication  or  Service  of  the  Rear.  Here  we 
found  that  it  was  so  many  weeks  or  months  since  we  had 
been  cabled  for  that  "they"  had  in  the  interim  forgotten  just 
what  it  was  we  were  particularly  wanted  for.  Furthermore, 
the  plan  of  campaign  had  altered  materially,  due  to  the  in- 
ability of  the  French  airplane  manufacturers  to  deliver  the 
planes  needed  for  service  at  the  Front.  Consequently  it  was 
necessary  to  "have  patience  for  a  few  days  more."  Mean- 
while I  heard  some  sad  stories  and  began  to  realize  how  low 
the  morale  of  many  of  our  aviators  had  fallen. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  DISADVANTAGES  OF  BEING  A  PILOT 

TWO  or  three  weeks  before  the  first  class  graduated 
from  the  ground  schools,  word  had  come  by  cable 
from  Air  Service  representatives  in  France  that  they  had 
been  able  to  arrange  with  the  French  flying  schools  to  take 
a  considerable  number  of  our  graduates.  A  few  weeks  later 
we  received  the  request  to  send  across  the  ocean  five  hundred 
cadets  a  month  for  training  in  France,  and  were  assured  by 
cable  that  they  would  be  able  to  take  care  of  even  more  than 
this  number.  Acting  on  this  information,  and  on  other  cables 
that  reached  us  from  time  to  time,  we  were  able  to  offer  to 
honor  graduates  of  the  ground  schools  the  privilege  of  being 
immediately  sent  to  France  to  receive  training  on  the  latest 
type  of  French  planes.  This  offer,  coupled  with  the  natural 
desire  of  every  young  man  to  get  to  France  as  soon  as  pos- 
sible, and  the  fact  that  the  new  American  flying  schools 
in  the  United  States  were  slow  in  getting  under  way,  and 
inadequately  provided  with  airplanes,  added  tremendous 
zest  to  the  work  in  the  ground  schools.  Experienced  teachers 
at  Cornell  and  elsewhere  assured  me  that  the  amount  of 
work  which  these  new  students  were  able  to  do  in  a  few 
weeks  and  the  amount  of  knowledge  and  skill  they  were 
able  to  acquire  was  a  perfect  revelation.  Never  before  had 
any  attempt  been  made  to  teach  so  much  in  so  short  a  time. 
Never  before  had  it  been  assumed  that  the  average  student 
would  work  ten  hours  a  day  and  would  strive  to  his  utmost 
to  be  included  in  the  upper  ten  of  the  class.  Never  before 


is 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  79 

had  there  been  such  powerful  incentives  to  succeed  in  the 
classroom  and  the  laboratory.  On  the  other  hand,  never  had 
there  been  such  keen  disappointment  awaiting  those  who 
failed  on  a  second  attempt  to  pass  a  single  examination. 
Every  one  worked  with  an  intense  devotion  to  the  matter  in 
hand.  The  fortunate  ones  who  graduated  with  honors,  as  the 
result  of  almost  unparalleled  student  industry,  were  sent 
rejoicing  to  the  port  of  embarkation. 

Later  on,  as  the  cables  called  for  more  cadets,  entire  grad- 
uating classes  were  despatched  to  France.  In  the  latter  part 
of  October  we  were  told  that  we  must  send  at  least  six 
hundred  a  month  overseas.  By  this  time  our  own  flying 
schools  were  getting  into  shape  to  receive  more  than  we  could 
send  them,  but  it  was  insisted  that  the  greatest  need  and  the 
greatest  opportunity  lay  in  the  flying  schools  of  France.  So 
our  graduates  were  rushed  to  Garden  City  and  Hoboken 
as  fast  as  they  could  pass  the  final  examinations.  Here  the 
rushing  stopped. 

Due  to  the  ramifications  of  red  tape,  the  necessity  of 
securing  satisfactory  certificates  of  typhoid  inoculation, 
cumbersome  methods  of  shipping  service  records,  and  the 
general  inability  of  the  War  Department  to  expand  sud- 
denly from  the  requirements  of  a  generation  of  comparative 
peace  to  the  demands  of  a  World  War,  there  were  weeks  of 
delay  at  the  port  of  embarkation  in  sending  over  the  first 
few  hundred  cadets.  Hence  there  was  lost  some  of  the  pre- 
cious summer  and  fall  which  might  have  been  used  to  great 
advantage  on  French  flying  fields.  Added  to  this  was  an  ex- 


80  AN  EXPLORER 

traordinarily  long  period  of  bad  weather  in  the  fall  of  1917, 
which  prevented  the  usual  amount  of  flying,  and  which  in- 
terfered with  the  progress  of  our  own  new  flying  school  at 
Issoudun.  Meanwhile,  General  Squier  was  not  kept  well 
informed  of  the  actual  progress  of  the  training  programme 
in  France  and  had  to  act  on  meagre  cables. 

About  December  first  an  entirely  unexpected  cable  came 
like  a  bolt  out  of  the  blue,  directing  that  no  more  cadets  be 
sent  to  France  until  further  notice.  The  sailing  orders  of 
perhaps  two  hundred  and  fifty  cadets  were  immediately  can- 
celled, and  everybody  was  kept  in  suspense  for  several  weeks, 
until  it  appeared  that  the  plans  for  rapid  training  in  France 
had  completely  broken  down,  and  that  no  more  cadets  were 
to  be  sent  abroad  for  many  months  to  come.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  no  more  were  ever  sent  until  after  they  had  passed  their 
preliminary  flying  tests,  and  as  Reserve  Military  Aviators 
earned  the  right  to  wear  wings,  and  the  bars  of  a  Lieutenant. 

Never  did  a  bright,  iridescent  soap-bubble  burst  more 
disappointingly.  Nothing  that  I  know  of  in  the  war  caused 
more  mental  suffering  or  greater  loss  of  morale  than  the 
failure  to  provide  properly  for  the  honor  graduateswho  went 
to  France  as  cadets.  As  I  remember  it,  about  eighteen  hun- 
dred cadets  had  been  sent  to  France  with  the  understanding 
that  they  were  to  receive  immediate  instruction  in  foreign 
flying  schools.  When  they  arrived  there  and  found  them- 
selves confined  for  months  at  a  time  in  concentration  and  mo- 
bilization camps  far  from  sight  or  hearing  of  an  airplane, 
forced  to  study  over  and  over  again  the  very  subjects  which 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  81 

they  had  mastered  with  so  much  enthusiasm  at  American 
ground  schools,  treated  by  despairing  officers  as  though 
they  were  "draft  dodgers"  who  needed  military  discipline 
and  who  deserved  reprobation  rather  than  sympathy,  their 
souls  were  filled  with  bitterness  and  their  minds  with  evil 
thoughts  against  the  War  Department  in  general,  and  those 
officers  in  particular  who  commanded  them  in  France. 
Some  of  these  cadets  had  no  opportunity  to  receive  flying 
instruction  for  six  months  after  they  reached  France.  It  has 
been  well  said  that  the  greatest  tragedy  of  youth  is  being 
obliged  to  wait  When  in  addition  to  the  necessity  of  wait- 
ing is  added  a  burning  sense  of  injustice  due  to  lack  of  faith 
and  failure  to  keep  promises,  the  result  is  truly  appalling. 
There  was  worse  to  come,  however,  for  in  the  spring  of 
1918  there  began  to  arrive  in  France  as  First  Lieutenants, 
wearing  wings,  and  speedily  to  be  placed  in  positions  of 
authority,  the  very  classmates  of  these  unfortunate  cadets, 
who  had  not  been  quite  keen  enough  to  graduate  with 
honor  from  the  ground  schools,  had  accordingly  been  sent 
to  American  flying  schools,  received  their  preliminary 
training,  passed  their  tests  as  Reserve  Military  Aviators, 
received  their  commissions,  and  been  sent  abroad  in  re- 
sponse to  other  cables  asking  for  a  certain  number  of  flying 
officers.  It  was  hard  enough  to  have  to  wait  weeks  and 
months  for  one's  flying  training,  but  it  was  adding  insult 
to  injury  when,  as  a  cadet  with  the  rank  of  Private,  First 
Class,  and  the  status  of  an  enlisted  candidate  for  commis- 
sion, you  had  respectfully  to  salute  and  take  orders  from 


82  AN  EXPLORER 

these  young  officers  whom  you  had  passed  in  the  race, 
months  before,  thanks  to  your  own  diligence  and  hard 
work.  And  there  was  the  added  bitterness  that  when  you 
finally  received  your  commission,  you  would  still  be  out- 
ranked, due  to  the  priority  of  their  commissions. 

Feeling  as  keenly  as  I  did  about  this  terrific  disappoint- 
ment that  had  been  the  lot  of  the  earliest  and  most  brilliant 
graduates  of  the  ground  schools,  I  made  every  effort  when 
I  arrived  in  France  in  the  spring  of  1918  to  try  and  dis- 
cover who  was  responsible  for  the  hideous  mistake,  and 
why  we  had  received  no  warning  before  that  cable  of  the 
first  of  December.  But  I  never  obtained  any  satisfaction  on 
these  points.  So  far  as  I  could  learn  then,  no  one  person, 
but  rather  a  series  of  events,  was  at  the  bottom  of  the 
trouble. 

To  our  first  representatives  who  went  abroad  in  the  late 
spring  and  early  summer  of  1917,  the  French  airplane 
manufacturers  (naturally  anxious  to  be  as  obliging  as 
possible)  had  optimistically  promised  a  large  number  of 
airplanes  both  for  training  and  fighting  purposes,  to  be 
delivered  at  the  rate  of  about  one  thousand  per  month.  Their 
hopes  were  vain,  and  their  promises  were  not  carried  out. 
Some  of  the  raw  material  which  they  had  counted  on  was 
sunk  by  Hun  submarines ;  some  of  it  was  diverted  to  our 
own  programme  of  building  in  this  country.  Perhaps,  also, 
our  representatives  had  not  properly  discounted  the  natural 
optimism  of  manufacturers  anxious  to  obtain  huge  Ameri- 
can contracts.  So  far  as  I  could  learn  unofficially,  at  a  time 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  83 

when  we  should  have  been  in  receipt  of  seven  thousand 
airplanes,  we  had  received  about  one  thousand.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  it  was  not  until  June,  1918,  that  the  deliveries  be- 
gan to  come  anywhere  near  our  demands  and  expectations. 
Then,  of  course,  planes  came  through  faster  than  we  could 
use  them,  and  caused  another  sudden  dislocation  of  plans. 
But  that  is  another  story. 

As  so  often  happens,  it  takes  "outsiders"  to  see  what  is 
the  matter  with  a  factory.  The  men  who  have  been  consci- 
entiously trying  to  make  it  run  become  blinded  to  condi- 
tions which  an  outsider,  called  in  to  criticise,  sees  at  first 
glance.  Accordingly,  it  was  not  strange  that  when  General 
Foulois  and  his  large  staff  of  Air  Service  officers  arrived 
in  France  in  November,  1917,  they  at  once  saw  things  in  a 
new  light.  Before  many  days  they  came  to  the  conclusion 
that  no  more  cadets  ought  to  be  sent  to  France.  Hence,  the 
cable  of  December  first.      ' 

In  the  mean  time,  enormous  damage  had  been  done  to  the 
morale  of  the  cadets.  The  problem  of  caring  for  the  eighteen 
hundred  who  were  on  hand  demanding  flying  instruction 
was  one  that  required  earnest  consideration  for  many  months 
to  come.  As  has  been  stated,  the  difficulties  were  intensified 
by  an  unusually  bad  winter.  Furthermore,  the  French  sys- 
tem of  training,  which  we  were  forced  to  adopt,  was  not 
nearly  as  rapid  as  the  English  system  or  our  own.  The  pre- 
liminary training  plane  in  general  use  in  France  was  the  old- 
fashioned  Caudron,  which  has  no  ailerons  and  no  fuselage. 
In  order  to  fly  it  you  have  to  warp  the  wings,  a  process  re- 


84  AN  EXPLORER 

quiring  a  considerable  amount  of  exertion  and  a  very  heavy 
hand.  Rough  landings  can  be  made  almost  with  impunity. 
The  ship  will  not  dive  fast.  It  is  in  general  a  very  safe  old 
"bus,"  resting  on  long  skids  and  having  no  wheels.  It  flies  at 
low  speed,  can  be  landed  almost  any  where  without  crashing, 
and  is  very  amusing  to  one  accustomed  to  modern  planes. 
It  was  the  type  of  plane  used  by  Vedrines  when  he  made 
his  sensational  landing  on  top  of  a  department  store  in  Paris 
in  the  spring  of  1919. 

All  of  these  things  mean  that,  in  our  opinion,  it  was  not 
nearly  so  well  adapted  to  teach  preliminary  flying  as  the 
Curtiss  JN-4  or  the  English  Avro.  When  one  considers  that 
the  next  step  in  advanced  flying,  after  having  mastered  the 
Caudron,  was  to  learn  to  fly  a  Nieuport,  which  is  almost  the 
exact  opposite  of  a  Caudron,  it  seems  as  though  the  French 
officers  who  designed  this  system  had  purposely  made  it  as 
difficult  as  possible.  Instead  of  being  slow  on  the  controls 
like  the  Caudron,  the  Nieuport  is  extremely  sensitive  to 
handle.  It  will  dive  with  great  rapidity.  It  is  difficult  to  land, 
and  bad  landings  cannot  be  made  with  impunity.  For  ex- 
ample, on  Field  No.  2  at  Issoudun  —  where  advanced  stu- 
dents received  their  first  instructions  in  flying  a  Nieuport, 
using  the  Nieuport  23-meter,  dual  control,  with  an  experi- 
enced teacher  in  the  front  seat — eighty-three  machines  were 
put  out  of  commission  on  the  landing-field  in  two  days  of  fine 
weather  in  May,  1918.  As  I  remember  it,  the  four  remain- 
ing machines  did  not  last  long  on  the  next  day.  To  be  sure, 
the  cause  for  this  amazing  casualty  list  was  an  entire  lack 


'*f*m 


Nieiiport  80,  23-meter,  80  H.P.  Le  Rhone  motor 


Avro,  1 10  H.P.  Le  Rhone  motor 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  85 

of  wind  and  the  tendency  of  the  Nieuport  to  make  a  cheval- 
de-lms,  or  spin  around  on  the  ground  as  in  an  old-fashioned 
square  dance.  When  there  is  a  little  wind,  it  is  fairly  easy 
to  keep  the  Nieuport  rolling  straight  ahead,  as  it  loses  speed 
after  landing,  but  when  there  is  no  wind  to  assist  the  be- 
ginner in  maintaining  steerage-way,  a  cheval  is  difficult  to 
avoid.  Since  the  Nieuport  had  no  wing  skids  and  since  it 
was  very  difficult  to  adjust  suitable  skids  to  the  bottom  of 
the  single  "  V  "-shaped  strut,  this  tendency  to  cheval  was 
continually  causing  the  breakage  of  lower  wings. 

Many  of  the  pilots  declared  that  it  was  like  learning  to 
fly  all  over  again  when  one  went  from  a  slow-going,  safe 
old  bus  like  the  Caudron  to  the  fast,  delicate,  tricky  Nieu- 
port. Men  who  had  been  trained  to  fly  on  the  Curtiss  JN-4 
made  much  better  progress,  and  those  who  received  their 
first  instructions  on  an  Avro  went  even  faster.  Our,  cadets 
in  France  in  the  winter  of  1917-18,  however,  had  to  de- 
pend upon  receiving  their  first  instruction  on  Caudrons. 
Furthermore,  some  of  the  cadets  who  left  New  York  in  No- 
vember, 1917,  had  no  opportunity  even  to  get  into  a  Cau- 
dron before  June,  1918. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  Secretary  of  War  had  been  to 
France  and  become  personally  acquainted  with  the  woes 
of  these  unfortunate  candidates  for  commissions.  As  a  re- 
sult of  his  visit,  those  cadets  who  had  not  yet  passed  their 
flying  tests  were  commissioned  in  May  and  June,  these 
commissions  being  conditioned  on  their  eventually  being 
able  to  fly,  and  subject  to  cancellation  in  case  they  did  not 


86  AN  EXPLORER 

succeed.  This  relieved  the  situation  so  far  as  pay  and  rank 
were  concerned,  but  it  did  not  actually  hasten  their  arrival  at 
the  Front  The  goal  for  which  they  had  worked  so  hard  in 
those  strenuous  days  in  the  ground  schools  in  the  summer 
of  1917,  namely,  the  opportunity  to  get  into  squadrons  and 
fly  over  the  lines,  was  still  far  away. 

Then  there  came  another  blow,  which  seemed  directed 
at  what  little  vanity  remained,  and  intended  to  destroy 
whatever  satisfaction  they  might  feel  in  having  at  last  be- 
come officers.  In  common  with  all  other  student  officers  in 
France,  they  were  forbidden  to  wear  the  insignia  of  an  offi- 
cer while  in  a  training  camp.  As  most  of  them  were  faced 
with  the  necessity  of  spending  several  months  longer  in  at- 
tending the  courses  in  advanced  and  specialized  flying,  this 
seemed  almost  like  taking  all  the  pleasure  out  of  life.  To  be 
given  a  commission  and  then  told  you  could  not  wear  the 
insignia  connected  with  it  was  like  giving  candy  to  chil- 
dren and  telling  them  they  could  not  eat  it 

There  were  several  reasons  for  this  decision  on  the  part 
of  G.  H.  Q.  In  the  first  place,  it  had  been  the  custom  in  the 
Officers  Training  Camps  at  home  for  officers  who  held  re- 
serve commissions  and  had  been  sent  to  these  camps  to  re- 
ceive further  instruction  to  remove  their  student  insignia  as 
long  as  they  were  student  officers.  In  the  second  place,  many 
of  the  cadets  were  very  unmilitary,  and  it  was  believed  that 
it  would  be  easier  to  secure  adequate  military  discipline  if 
the  students  did  not  obviously  outrank  the  instructor  ser- 
geants who  were  giving  lessons.  In  the  third  place,  there 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  87 

was  a  story  that  what  finally  brought  about  the  issuance  of 
the  order  was  an  occurrence  in  one  of  the  advanced  schools 
of  the  staff  or  the  line.  It  seems  that  a  number  of  field  offi- 
cers arrived  to  take  the  course.  An  efficient  young  second 
lieutenant  who  had  been  at  the  Front  for  several  months 
attempted  to  take  them  in  charge  and  have  them  march  in 
an  orderly  manner  to  their  barracks.  To  this  the  colonels  and 
majors  made  amused  protest  and  decided  to  go  along  as  they 
pleased,  feeling  that  it  was  not  necessary  to  take  orders  in 
this  manner  from  a  second  lieutenant.  Consequently,  in  order 
to  enable  the  efficient  but  youthful  instructors  to  accomplish 
their  ends  with  greater  facility  and  less  embarrassment  to 
themselves  and  to  their  students,  the  general  order  was  issued 
that  student  officers  would  remove  insignia  while  in  school ; 
an  order  which  our  young  pilots  felt  was  directed  particu- 
larly against  them. 

In  the  course  of  time  this  was  changed,  but  in  the  mean 
while,  although  it  probably  was  of  assistance  in  maintaining 
discipline,  it  did  not  help  to  cheer  up  the  student  officers  of 
the  Air  Service.  To  be  sure,  in  itself  it  was  only  a  little  thing, 
but  coming  as  it  did  on  top  of  so  many  other  indignities  and 
disappointments,  it  was  felt  very  keenly. 

The  loss  of  morale  that  followed  in  the  wake  of  cadet 
delays  and  disappointments  showed  itself  in  a  number  of 
ways,  which  in  turn  reacted  on  the  fortunes  of  the  un- 
happy flying  officers.  The  sentries  at  the  gate  of  one  of  the 
flying  schools  would  stop  young  officers  with  the  irritating 
question :  "Are  you  an  officer  or  a  flying  lieut?" 


88  AN  EXPLORER 

Some  of  the  pilots  had  been  so  badgered  and  tormented 
by  their  superior  officers  that  they  no  longer  desired  to  be 
good  soldiers.  Some  instructors  maintained  that  many  of 
their  students  did  not  wish  to  learn  to  fly,  were  afraid  of 
the  air,  and  were  anxious  to  avoid  its  dangers.  It  was  said 
that  the  students  seized  every  opportunity  to  offer  excuses 
for  not  flying.  It  was  claimed  on  the  part  of  the  students 
that  their  teachers  were  often  unsympathetic  and  even  brutal 
in  their  attitude,  and  that  it  was  impossible  to  do  good  work 
under  such  methods  of  instruction.  The  truth  was  that 
officers  in  charge  of  flying,  working  under  a  great  strain, 
sometimes  failed  to  take  into  consideration  the  reasons  for 
this  loss  of  morale  and  attributed  it  most  unfeelingly  to 
other  causes.  Undoubtedly  there  were  serious  instances  of 
harsh  treatment  by  instructors,  occasioned  by  misconduct 
on  the  part  of  students,  but  causing  in  their  turn  still  fur- 
ther lowering  of  morale  and  loss  of  interest  in  the  Air  Ser- 
vice. 

Another  disappointed  hope  was  that  of  becoming  Junior 
Military  Aviators.  The  boys  used  to  refer  to  the  printed 
statements  that  on  completing  the  R.  M.  A.  test,  the  pilots 
would  be  commissioned  First  Lieutenants,  and  that  on  com- 
pleting the  more  difficult  J.  M.  A.  test,  the  pilots  would  se- 
cure an  advance  in  grade  and  50  per  cent  increase  in  pay. 
There  were  very  few  of  the  thousands  of  young  men  that 
came  into  the  Air  Service  during  the  first  few  months  of  the 
war  that  did  not  expect  to  be  Captains  before  very  long, 
provided  they  could  learn  to  fly  at  all.  This  was  one  of  the 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  89 

reasons  why  they  volunteered  to  undergo  the  most  danger- 
ous training  of  any  branch  of  the  army.  Having  enlisted  in 
the  Signal  Enlisted  Reserve  Corps,  and  having  started  on 
the  aviation  road,  there  was  nothing  for  them  to  do  but  swal- 
low their  disappointment  when,  as  the  months  went  on,  they 
discovered  that  most  of  them  were  destined  to  be  Second 
Lieutenants,  and  that  they  were  never  to  be  allowed  to  take 
the  J.  M.  A.  test  and  secure  additional  rank  and  pay  as  con- 
templated by  Congress  and  set  forth  in  the  original  official 
bulletins. 

This  disappointment  was  a  source  of  constant  grumbling 
and  complaint  and  the  cause  of  many  accusations  of  breach 
of  faith  and  unfair  dealing.  No  business  organization  which 
failed  so  glaringly  to  keep  faith  with  its  employees  could  ex- 
pect to  have  their  loyalty.  It  was  certainly  most  unfortunate 
that  the  unwisdom  of  promising  so  much  rank  and  pay  to 
youthful,  high-spirited  boys  of  nineteen  and  twenty  could 
not  have  been  foreseen  earlier. 

An  immense  amount  of  complaint  was  caused  by  the 
necessity  of  arbitrarily  setting  a  date  which  affected  thou- 
sands of  cadets  who  had  been  accepted  as  candidates  for  a 
First  Lieutenant's  commission  and  were  then  undergoing 
or  awaiting  training,  and  stating  that  if  they  graduated 
or  took  their  R.  M.  A.  test  after  this  date,  they  would  auto- 
matically become  Second  Lieutenants.  In  a  majority  of  cases 
it  was  entirely  beyond  the  control  of  the  cadet  as  to  what 
date  he  should  graduate.  In  many  cases  injustice  was  un- 
avoidable. The  consequent  lowering  of  morale  due  to  in- 


90  AN  EXPLORER 

fection  and  contagion  from  the  disappointed  and  disaffected 

aviators  was  very  natural. 

There  were  other  causes  of  dissatisfaction :  the  amount 
of  power,  rank,  and  promotion  given  to  non-flying  officers ; 
the  slowness  of  promotion  among  flying  officers;  the  un- 
willingness of  the  army  to  provide  a  comfortable  blouse  for 
the  pilot ;  and  the  failure  on  the  part  of  the  army  to  realize 
that  different  standards  of  work  and  discipline  should  be 
expected  of  a  highly  technical  and  purely  voluntary  service 
like  aviation,  where  individual  initiative  and  high  morale  are 
so  necessary.  It  would  seem  obvious  that  in  no  branch  of  the 
service  should  more  attention  be  given  to  preparing  carefully 
thought-out  plans  which  it  will  not  be  necessary  to  change 
in  such  a  way  as  to  destroy  confidence  and  hope.  Changes 
that  disappoint  and  hurt  the  feelings  of  those  whose  morale 
must  be  built  up  should  be  avoided  at  all  costs.  Everything 
should  be  done  to  make  the  young  pilots  glad  they  belong 
to  such  a  keen  corps  instead  of  being  sorry,  as  so  many  of 
them  were,  that  they  had  ever  been  misled  into  joining  the 
Army  Air  Service. 

The  story  of  the  flying  cadets  is  the  worst  page  in  the 
history  of  the  Air  Service.  They  were  forced  by  a  combi- 
nation of  circumstances,  over  which  no  one  seemed  to  have 
any  control,  to  suffer  serious  and  exasperating  delays,  dis- 
appointments, and  "raw  deals,"  which  tended  to  break  their 
spirit  and  destroy  their  self-respect.  Notwithstanding  this, 
the  great  majority  of  them  completed  their  training  and 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  91 

performed  such  duties  as  were  assigned  to  them  to  the  best 
of  their  knowledge  and  ability.  It  should  not  be  forgotten 
that  their  sufferings  were  due  fundamentally  to  the  blind 
unpreparedness  with  which  we  drifted  into  war. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  PERSONNEL  OFFICE  IN  TOURS 

ON  the  last  day  of  April,  1918,  I  was  designated  as 
Chief  of  Personnel  for  the  Air  Service,  A.  E.  F.,  in 
which  position  I  continued  until  August  23  of  the  same 
year.  Air  Service  Headquarters  in  Tours  were  located  at 
Beaumont  Barracks,  which  had  only  recently  been  com- 
pleted for  the  use  of  French  Cavalry,  but  had  never  been 
occupied  until  it  was  leased  by  the  American  Expeditionary 
Forces.  It  was  by  far  the  pleasantest  of  any  of  the  barracks 
used  in  Tours  by  the  Services  of  Supply. 

At  the  time  of  my  arrival  a  general  reorganization  in  the 
Air  Service  in  France  was  going  on.  In  other  words,  they 
were  doing  what  we  had  done  so  often  at  Washington  — 
attempting  to  make  the  clothes  fit  the  rapidly  growing  child. 
By  the  time  the  clothes  were  altered,  the  child  had  grown  so 
much  more  that  they  were  still  too  small.  This  particular 
reorganization  was  effected  after  several  weeks  of  study 
on  the  part  of  a  board  composed  of  the  most  efficient  Colo- 
nels on  duty  in  the  office  of  the  Chief  of  Air  Service.  The 
general  result  was  to  give  more  responsibility  and  authority 
to  the  Section  Chiefs,  namely,  the  Chief  of  Training,  Chief 
of  Personnel,  Chief  of  Supply,  and  Chief  of  Balloon.  The 
Chief  of  Balloon  also  had  under  his  jurisdiction  the  Infor- 
mation Section,  the  Photographic  Section,  and  the  Radio 
Section. 

In  general,  the  organization  was  well  conceived  and  prac- 
ticable. The  feature  of  grouping  Balloon,  Radio,  Photogra- 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  93 

phy,  and  Information  under  one  head  was  satisfactory  only 
because  of  the  ability  of  Colonel  Chandler,  who  filled  this 
unique  position.  His  long  experience,  even  temperament, 
unfailing  courtesy,  and  wide  technical  knowledge  enabled 
him  to  give  satisfaction  in  a  position  that  probably  would 
have  brought  disaster  to  any  one  else. 

The  chief  stumbling-block  to  the  success  of  the  new  plan 
lay  in  the  fact  that  the  sections  could  not  all  work  in  the 
same  place.  The  Supply  Section  was  obliged  to  be  near  the 
principal  sources  of  supply,  that  is,  the  offices  and  factories 
of  the  French  in  Paris.  The  Personnel  Section  was  obliged 
to  be  in  Tours  because  all  orders  were  issued  by  Head- 
quarters S.  O.  S.,  located  in  Tours.  The  Training  Section 
should  have  been  at  Chaumont,  in  close  touch  with  the 
Training  Section  of  the  General  Staff,  in  constant  liaison 
with  the  activities  at  the  Front,  and  able  to  reach  all  schools 
in  the  S.  O.  S.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  was  located  so  far  away 
from  the  Front  as  to  earn  the  adverse  criticism  of  organiza- 
tions at  the  Front  and  the  distrust  of  the  General  Staff. 

The  Chief  of  Air  Service,  himself,  found  it  necessary  to 
spend  a  great  deal  of  time  on  the  road  and  to  maintain 
three  separate  offices,  one  in  Chaumont,  one  in  Paris,  and 
one  in  Tours.  As  a  result,  it  was  difficult  to  keep  in  touch 
with  him,  and  many  decisions  had  to  be  made  either  with- 
out consulting  him  or  with  inadequate  information  on  his 
part.  During  the  whole  period  of  my  stay  in  France,  the  ne- 
cessity for  the  Chief  of  Air  Service  to  be  in  three  places  at 
once  militated  very  seriously  against  the  success  of  our  pro- 


94  AN  EXPLORER 

gramme.  The  hopelessness  of  the  situation  would  seem  to 
emphasize  the  need  of  a  different  kind  of  organization.  It 
was  foolish  to  expect  one  man  to  fight  for  supply  with  the 
French  and  British  Governments  and  manufacturers,  to 
direct  the  movement  and  training  of  all  personnel  in  such 
widely  diverse  activities  as  balloon,  radio,  photography,  and 
flying,  and  at  the  same  time  be  in  charge  of  aerial  activi- 
ties at  the  Front,  direct  the  movements  and  activities  of  the 
squadrons  and  companies  in  the  zone  of  advance,  and  at- 
tend to  the  details  of  squadron  organization. 

The  new  scheme  went  into  effect  shortly  before  the  first 
of  May,  but  it  did  not  last  long.  In  the  latter  part  of  May, 
General  Foulois  was  sent  to  take  command  of  active  oper- 
ations at  the  Front  and  General  Mason  M.  Patrick  of  the 
Engineer  Corps,  who  had  never  been  in  the  Air  Service 
but  had  been  in  charge  of  the  Division  of  Construction 
and  Forestry,  was  made  Chief  of  Air  Service.  There  is  a  tra- 
dition in  the  army  that  any  regular  officer  can  take  any 
army  job,  and  General  Patrick  certainly  justified  this  tra- 
dition. Notwithstanding  his  unfamiliarity  with  aviation  and 
his  belief  that  at  his  age  he  could  give  better  service  by 
travelling  on  the  ground  than  in  the  air,  he  rapidly  assim- 
ilated a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  Air  Service  in  the  A.E.  F. 
His  remarkable  memory  and  extraordinary  capacity  for  the 
mastery  of  minute  details  enabled  him  in  a  very  few  weeks 
to  secure  a  thorough  grasp  of  the  situation  and  to  under- 
take a  new  reorganization. 

His  office  memorandum  No.  23  reorganized  the  duties  of 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  95 

the  officer  in  charge  of  Air  Personnel,  and  it  explains  better 
than  anything  else  my  duties  as  they  were  in  the  summer 
of  1918. 

OFFICE  OF  THE  CHIEF  OF  Am  SERVICE 

Tours 
Office  Memorandum  No.  23. 

1.  There  will  be  an  Officer  in  charge  of  Personnel,  upon  whom 
will  rest  the  responsibility  for  providing  the  man  power  needed  to 
carry  out  approved  programs  and  estimates  of  needs  furnished  to 
him.  The  Chief  of  Personnel  will  have  charge  of  the  Personnel  Sec- 
tion of  the  Office  of  the  Chief  of  Air  Service  and  of  Air  Service 
Replacement  Concentration  Barracks.  He  will  be  a  member  of  the 
Strategic  Section  and  will  be  furnished  as  far  in  advance  as  possible 
with  copies  of  approved  programs  and  estimates  of  personnel  needs. 

2.  The  Personnel  Section  has  the  following  duties:  — 

(a)  To  procure  and  assign  officers,  cadets,  candidates,  enlisted  men 
and  civilian  personnel,  for  the  Air  Service,  and  to  coordinate  and 
list  requests  for  the  same  in  their  relative  order  of  emergency. 

Qi)  To  keep  track  of  all  incoming  personnel  and  to  give  desti- 
nations for  it  as  long  as  possible  in  advance. 

(c)  To  notify  the  Commanding  Officer  at  the  destination  to  which 
incoming  troops  are  to  be  sent  as  far  in  advance  as  possible  so  that 
proper  provision  may  be  made  for  caring  for  such  arrivals. 

(*/)  To  provide  the  requisite  number  of  officers  for  all  squadrons, 
particularly  for  those  which  are  being  sent  to  the  front. 

(e)  To  prepare  plans  for  the  distribution  of  these  squadrons  in 
accordance  with  the  approved  Air  Service  program. 

(y)  To  request  from  proper  authority  orders  for  travel  and  change 
of  station. 

(^To  handle  all  correspondence  relative  to  personnel  and  keep 
such  records  and  files  pertaining  to  Air  Service  personnel  as  may 
properly  be  kept  in  the  Office  of  the  Chief  of  Air  Service. 

Qi)  To  keep  a  list  of  officers  by  rank,  grade  and  occupation. 


96  AN  EXPLORER 

(i)  To  refer  to  properly  constituted  examining  boards  the  names 
of  approved  candidates  for  flying  training.  To  receive  the  reports  of 
these  examinations  and  review  the  action  of  the  board  before  for- 
warding report  to  higher  authority. 

3.  Air  Service  Replacement  Concentration  Barracks  [St.  Maxient] 
has  the  following  duties: 

(a)  To  classify  all  officers  and  men  that  maybe  sent  there  for  duty. 

(£)  To  complete  the  Quartermaster  and  Ordnance  equipment  of 
enlisted  men  passing  through  this  station. 

(c)  To  examine  the  organization  of  squadrons  passing  through 
the  barracks,  and  see  that  these  organizations  conform  as  far  as  pos- 
sible to  that  laid  down  in  the  approved  tables  of  organization.  To 
organize  squadrons  from  available  troops.  To  see  that  all  squadrons 
passing  through  are  provided  with  suitable  ground  officers,  and  in 
general  act  as  the  agent  of  the  Personnel  Section  in  organizing  squad- 
rons according  to  the  plan  of  mobilization  for  squadrons  as  laid  down 
by  the  Chief  of  Air  Service. 

(*/)  To  maintain  a  ground  school  for  aviation  students  in  accord- 
ance with  the  program  laid  down  by  the  Chief  of  Training,  who  will 
exercise  direct  supervision  of  the  course  of  study,  designate  instructors, 
inspect  the  school,  nominate  a  liaison  officer  who  shall  be  a  member 
of  the  staff  of  the  Commanding  Officer  of  the  Barracks  to  represent 
the  Chief  of  Training  in  all  matters  pertaining  to  the  ground  schools 
for  aviation  students. 

(e)  To  maintain  a  ground  officers'  school  for  training  adjutants, 
supply  officers  and  engineering  officers  in  accordance  with  program 
laid  down  by  the  Chief  of  Personnel  who  will  exercise  supervision 
of  the  course  of  study,  nominate  instructors  and  be  responsible  for 
the  proper  training  of  ground  officers,  and  for  providing  such  train- 
ing for  flying  officers  who  have  temporarily  or  permanently  lost  fly- 
ing ability  as  will  enable  them  to  be  useful  for  other  than  flying  duty. 

(Signed)  Mason  M.  Patrick, 

Major  General,  N.  A. 
C.  A.  S. 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  97 

To  assist  me  in  this  undertaking  there  were  in  the  Per- 
sonnel Office  in  Tours  some  sixteen  officers,  and  seventy-five 
enlisted  men  who  acted  as  clerks ;  while  at  St.  Maxient 
there  was  Colonel  A.  Lippincott,  the  commanding  officer  of 
the  post,  and  his  staff.  All  worked  with  unremitting  energy 
to  carry  out  the  programme  as  laid  down. 

Of  the  difficulties  that  were  due  to  lack  of  proper  office 
equipment  and  scarcity  of  efficient  stenographers,  it  is  hardly 
necessary  to  speak,  for  they  were  not  in  any  way  confined 
to  our  office,  but  were  well-nigh  universal  in  the  A.  E.  F.  It 
was  a  pleasure  to  see  how  everybody  strove  to  overcome  all  ob- 
stacles. Particular  mention  must  be  made  of  Captain  Cleve- 
land Cobb,  whose  careful  attention  to  the  details  of  the  Offi- 
cers' Section  brought  it  to  a  high  state  of  efficiency ;  Captain 
Hamilton  Hadley,  whose  thorough  familiarity  with  army 
regulations  and  the  latest  authorities  oiled  the  wheels  of  our 
intercourse  with  other  branches  of  the  service ;  Lieutenant 
Walter  Tufts,  whose  courtesy  and  tact  in  dealing  with  anx- 
ious visitors  permitted  the  routine  work  of  the  office  to  pro- 
ceed with  a  minimum  number  of  interruptions ;  and  Master 
Signal  Electrician  Walter  Buchanan,  whose  long  experience 
in  the  care  of  records  and  files  made  possible  the  smooth  run- 
ning of  that  machinery  on  which  a  personnel  office  depends 
so  largely  for  its  efficiency. 

In  my  new  position  I  had  an  opportunity  to  learn  much 
about  the  kind  of  personnel  in  our  squadrons.  The  enlisted 
personnel  of  the  Air  Service  was  remarkable  for  its  high- 
grade  technical  ability  and  splendid  devotion  to  duty.  In  the 


98  AN  EXPLORER 

face  of  many  difficulties  the  enlisted  men  always  showed  a 
willingness  to  accept  disagreeable  assignments  as  well  as 
to  perform  their  regular  duties  at  unusual  hours  that  was 
extremely  praiseworthy.  Many  of  them  came  from  highly 
paid  trades,  and  a  large  number  had  enlisted  expecting  to 
fly.  The  way  they  did  their  work  and  accepted  the  inevitable 
was  very  fine.  It  was  my  observation  that  it  would  have  been 
difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  have  secured  better  men.  I  be- 
lieve that  it  was  fortunate  that  enlistment  in  the  Air  Ser- 
vice was  possible  at  a  time  when  enlistments  in  most  branches 
of  the  army  were  forbidden.  Consequently  we  had  an  op- 
portunity to  secure  the  more  intelligent  American  me- 
chanics. 

I  believe  it  would  have  been  better  had  we  earlier  adopted 
a  plan  whereby  enlisted  men  above  the  grade  of  corporal 
could  have  become  candidates  for  non-flying  commissions. 
When  an  enlisted  man  had  done  extremely  well,  and  was 
anxious  to  fly,  but  was  turned  down  by  the  doctor  as  being 
physically  unfit  to  be  a  pilot,  there  was  no  hope  for  him  to 
secure  a  commission  in  most  cases,  unless  he  left  the  service 
in  which  he  had  received  his  training.  Therefore  it  was 
unfortunate  that  so  many  of  the  positions  of  Adjutant,  Sup- 
ply Officer,  and  Engineer  Officer  were  given  to  men  without 
military  experience.  To  have  reserved  a  large  number  of 
these  places  for  enlisted  candidates  would  have  furnished  an 
additional  incentive  and  stimulated  competition.  As  would 
be  expected,  however,  our  enlisted  mechanics  frequently 
showed  remarkable  ingenuity  and  inventiveness.  Some  ef- 


S 

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o 

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bo 


g 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  99 

fort  was  made  to  procure  from  the  enlisted  personnel  descrip- 
tions and  drawings  of  their  inventions  and  ideas. 

In  the  Personnel  Office  we  also  saw  and  heard  many 
things  about  the  conduct  of  our  cadets  and  even  of  our  flying 
officers.  It  should  be  remembered  that  the  cadets  were,  for 
the  most  part,  drawn  from  among  a  class  of  young,  irrespon- 
sible, venturesome,  athletic  boys,  who  were  willing  to  take 
the  risks  of  aviation  training  at  a  time  when  about  four  per 
cent  of  all  advanced  students  were  killed  in  training.  They 
felt  they  were  gambling  with  their  lives  whenever  they  went 
up.  Had  they  had  a  greater  sense  of  responsibility,  it  is 
doubtful  whether  many  of  them  would  have  volunteered 
for  flying  duty.  Consequently  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at 
that  many  of  them  committed  indiscretions  of  conduct  in 
public  which  brought  upon  them  severe  criticism.  The  fact 
that  they  wore  wings  or  special  white  hatbands  made  them 
particularly  conspicuous,  and  made  it  possible  for  the  aver- 
age person  to  identify  them  with  the  Air  Service.  Officers 
or  candidates  of  other  services  could  not  be  so  readily  iden- 
tified by  casual  observers.  The  destruction  of  morale  by  the 
long  period  of  disappointment  and  delay  which  most  of  the 
cadets  encountered  showed  itself  in  an  unsoldierly  attitude 
toward  military  rules  and  discipline,  which,  while  repre- 
hensible, was  not  surprising.  The  noteworthy  and  remark- 
able thing  is  that  so  many  of  them  did  so  well. 

The  same  remarks  apply  to  a  large  percentage  of  the 
flying  officers.  It  was  particularly  hard  for  student  flying 
officers  to  submit  to  the  necessary  discipline.  I  believe  that 


100  AN  EXPLORER 

in  the  future  it  would  be  far  better  to  postpone  the  actual  com- 
mission of  the  pilot  until  his  training  is  completed  and  he 
is  ready  to  take  his  place  in  a  squadron. 

Had  the  older  flying  officers  of  higher  rank  done  more 
flying,  they  could  have  raised  the  spirits  and  enthusiasm 
of  the  younger  men.  It  would  be  hard  for  a  cavalry  regi- 
ment to  be  commanded  by  a  colonel  who  either  did  not 
know  how  to  ride  horseback  or  who  was  afraid  of  a  horse.  It 
is  just  as  hard  for  a  group  of  aviators  to  be  commanded  by 
an  officer  who  does  not  know  how  to  fly  or  is  afraid  of  the 
air.  It  was  most  unfortunate  that  circumstances  demanded 
the  presence  in  the  Air  Service  of  so  many  non-flying  offi- 
cers. I  believe  there  should  be  no  officers  in  the  Air  Service 
who  have  not  earned  their  wings,  and  are  not  willing  and 
ready  to  make  frequent  flights,  either  as  pilots  or  observers. 

It  was  also  unfortunate  that  quite  a  proportion  of  the 
non-flying  officers  sent  to  France  had  received  little  or  no 
military  training,  having  been  commissioned  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1917,  before  schools  for  non-flying  officers  with  their 
keen  competition  and  stringent  examinations  were  estab- 
lished. Some  of  these  officers  did  well ;  while  others,  who 
had  no  experience  in  handling  men,  were  failures,  as  was 
to  be  expected.  I  believe  that  in  the  future  non-flying  posi- 
tions in  the  Air  Service  should  be  filled  by  former  flyers  or 
by  candidates  from  among  the  best  enlisted  men  in  the 
squadrons,  who,  after  being  selected,  should  be  required  to 
take  thorough  courses  and  pass  strict  and  competitive  exam- 
inations, both  on  the  ground  and  in  the  air. 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  101 

Feeling  as  I  did  about  the  necessity  of  having  the  older 
officers  ready  to  assume  at  any  time  the  risks  of  flying,  I 
wanted  to  fly  as  much  as  possible  myself.  While  on  duty 
at  Washington  there  had  been  no  opportunity  to  fly  after  I 
passed  my  Reserve  Military  Aviator  test.  Some  members  of 
my  family  and  many  of  my  friends  insisted  that  it  was  fool- 
ish for  me  to  take  the  risks  of  flying  when  not  required  to  do 
so  by  the  nature  of  my  work.  After  giving  the  matter  con- 
siderable thought,  I  sent  the  following  communication  to  the 
Chief  of  Air  Service : 

.  .  .  request  to  be  allowed  to  use  such  time  as  can  be  spared  from 
my  duties  as  Chief  of  Personnel,  without  seriously  interfering  with 
the  business  of  this  office,  in  continuing  my  flying  instruction  which 
ended  at  Mineola  last  August  with  the  passing  of  my  R.  M.  A.  test. 
My  principal  reason  for  making  this  request  is  the  belief  that  it  is 
good  policy  for  the  older  flying  officers  in  the  Air  Service  to  keep  up 
with  their  flying.  It  is  believed  that  it  is  not  beneficial  for  the  morale 
of  the  Air  Service  that  Field  Officers,  who  are  in  charge  of  impor- 
tant parts  of  the  Air  Service  program,  should  seldom  ever  fly  them- 
selves. It  is  believed  to  be  just  as  important  for  the  Field  Officers  in 
the  Air  Service  to  subject  themselves  to  the  ordinary  risks  of  flying 
as  it  is  for  the  Field  Officers  in  the  Infantry  Regiments  to  subject 
themselves  to  the  ordinary  risks  of  trench  warfare. 

My  request  was  approved,  and  whenever  occasion  offered 
I  continued  flying.  I  learned  how  to  fly  a  Caudron  and  a 
23 -meter  Nieuport,  but  it  was  difficult  to  fly  regularly,  and 
I  had  two  crashes,  one  due  to  my  own  stupidity,  and  one 
due  to  engine  failure. 

The  first  thing  that  impressed  me  after  my  arrival  at  Air 


102  AN  EXPLORER 

Service  Headquarters  in  Tours  was  that  some  of  the  older 
officers  of  the  regular  army  who  were  in  positions  of  author- 
ity in  the  Air  Service  appeared  to  be  more  interested  in 
the  progress  of  the  Infantry  in  the  trenches  than  in  the 
problems  of  the  Air  Service.  I  may  have  been  mistaken,  but 
that  is  the  way  it  seemed  to  me.  Furthermore,  it  was  evi- 
dent from  their  conversation  that  several  of  them  who  had 
been  in  the  Air  Service  in  France  for  five  or  six  months, 
and  who  had  been  given  advanced  commissions  in  the  Air 
Service,  had  made  little  or  no  attempt  to  study  Military 
Aeronautics.  Some  of  them  were  unfamiliar  with  the  ordi- 
nary terms  used  on  a  flying  field.  They  had  spent  very  little 
time  with  pilots  or  aeronautical  engineers.  They  could  not 
talk  the  same  language.  That  such  men  should  have  the 
power  to  make  important  decisions  and  determine  aviation 
policies  was  bound  to  lead  to  discontent  and  dissatisfaction 
on  the  part  of  the  aviators. 

The  failure  of  a  large  proportion  of  the  regular  army 
officers  who  accepted  commissions  as  Colonels  and  Majors 
in  the  newly  expanded  Air  Service  in  the  fall  and  winter  of 
1917,  to  make  any  effort  to  qualify  either  as  pilots  or  ob- 
servers and  who  did  not  even  travel  cross-country  as  pas- 
sengers, made  it  hard  for  the  young  pilots  to  accept  ungrudg- 
ingly some  of  their  decisions.  The  situation  was  quite  similar 
to  what  would  happen  if  a  Captain  in  the  Navy  were  put 
in  charge  of  a  Cavalry  Post  and  never  was  seen  to  mount  a 
horse  or  attempt  to  learn  to  ride,  or  if  a  Captain  in  the  Army 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  103 

was  put  in  charge  of  a  battleship  and  never  went  out  of  port. 

At  the  flying  schools  it  was  most  essential  that  the  com- 
manding officer  be  a  flyer  if  he  were  to  secure  the  respect  of 
his  staff,  and  be  able  to  command  his  post  with  sympathetic 
understanding.  A  few  incidents  which  were'  current  gossip 
among  the  pilots  will  serve  to  show  why  some  of  the  non- 
flying  commanders  of  flying  fields  failed  to  make  good,  even 
though  they  had  had  long  experience  as  infantry  or  cavalry 
officers  in  the  regular  army.  At  one  of  the  largest  fields,  the 
commanding  officer  on  his  first  tour  of  inspection  was  greatly 
astonished  to  see  several  relatively  new  airplanes  badly 
smashed  up  and  hopelessly  out  of  commission.  He  inquired 
whether  they  had  been  properly  made  and  properly  inspected 
on  their  arrival,  and  when  he  was  assured  that  this  was  the 
case,  asked,  "  Why,  then,  are  they  out  of  commission  now 
when  they  are  only  a  few  weeks  old?"  "Rough  landings," 
was  the  laconic  reply  of  the  officer  in  charge  of  flying. "  This 
new  bunch  of  cadets  will  persist  in  making  bad  landings." 
"I  will  remedy  that,"  said  t;he  new  C.  O.  And  the  next  day  he 
issued  a  written  order  that  there  should  be  "no  more  rough 
landings." 

To  his  mind,  trained  by  a  dozen  years  in  the  cavalry,  it 
was  like  saying  that  horses  went  lame  because  they  were 
not  shod  properly,  and  he  proposed  to  insist  that  in  the  future 
this  deficiency  should  be  remedied  as  it  could  have  been  in 
the  cavalry  by  issuing  a  military  order.  Thoughtlessness  or 
perhaps  utter  lack  of  experience  in  learning  to  fly  naturally 


104  AN  EXPLORER 

made  him  suppose  that  rough  landings  were  caused  entirely 

by  carelessness  and  disregard  of  the  value  of  Government 

property. 

Another  excellent  cavalry  officer  at  another  flying  school 
signalized  his  arrival  to  take  command  by  ordering  a  hitch- 
ing-post  erected  in  front  of  his  headquarters.  He  had  been 
accustomed  for  many  years  to  performing  his  outdoor 
duties  on  horseback,  and  it  was  perfectly  natural  that  he 
should  wish  to  continue  the  practice.  As  soon  as  he  got  his 
hitching-post  put  in  he  ordered  his  orderly  to  bring  his 
horse,  and  proceeded  to  attempt  to  inspect  the  flying  field 
on  horseback !  His  horse  took  exception  to  the  noise  caused 
by  several  machines  whose  engines  were  being  warmed  up 
"on  the  line"  in  front  of  the  hangars.  As  his  horse  pranced 
around  in  front  of  the  planes,  he  waved  his  hands,  and  as 
soon  as  he  could  make  himself  heard,  shouted  out  the  order, 
"Stop  those  fans!  Don't  you  see  they  scare  my  horse?"  It 
may  be  easily  imagined  how  glad  the  young  pilots  of  the 
flying  school  were  to  take  orders  from  one  who  was  so  keenly 
interested  in  their  work. 

The  ignorance  of  some  of  these  old  cavalry  officers  of  the 
very  A  B  C  of  aeronautics  was  quite  extraordinary.  One 
of  them  in  command  of  one  of  our  flying  fields  in  France 
had  apparendy  never  even  read  that  the  Wright  Brothers 
had  solved  the  secret  of  practical  flight  by  making  the  wings 
of  their  first  airplanes  capable  of  being  warped.  This  warp- 
ing of  the  wings,  while  no  longer  used  in  most  planes,  was 
still  a  feature  of  the  Caudron  biplane  with  which  his  school 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  105 

was  largely  provided.  Soon  after  he  took  command  of  the 
school  he  learned  that  the  Caudron  was  not  popular  with 
the  young  pilots,  who  gave  as  one  of  the  reasons  for  their 
dissatisfaction  with  this  old-fashioned  bus,  that  instead  of 
its  being  equipped  with  ailerons,  the  wings  warped.  To  this 
he  immediately  replied  that  he  would  prevent  that  in  the 
future,  and  ordered  that  all  planes  be  immediately  taken 
into  the  hangars  and  not  left  out  in  the  sun  "where  their 
wings  could  warp."  It  was  at  this  school,  as  I  have  been  told 
by  several  pilots,  that  their  morale  reached  its  lowest  point, 
and  that  many  of  them  would  have  been  glad  to  be  able  to 
get  out  of  the  Air  Service  and  into  the  trenches. 

No  body  of  pilots  ever  had  a  keener  sense  of  loyalty  to 
their  leaders  or  better  morale  than  the  Royal  Flying  Corps. 
There  is  a  story  told  about  General  Brancker,  one  of  the 
chief  officers  in  the  R.  F.  C,  that  illustrates  how  far  the 
higher  officers  of  the  British  Air  Service  carried  the  idea  of 
the  importance  of  using  airplanes  rather  than  motor  cars 
for  their  tours  of  inspection.  General  Brancker  was  not  a  very 
good  pilot  and  frequently  made  rather  bad  landings  and 
crashed  his  running  gear,  but  this  never  deterred  him  from 
the  belief  that  it  was  better  not  to  adopt  any  safer  means  of 
transportation  than  were  used  by  his  own  pilots.  One  day  in 
landing  on  an  airdrome  for  the  purpose  of  inspection,  and 
before  he  had  time  to  take  off  his  helmet  and  goggles,  the 
young  Officer  in  Charge  of  Flying  rushed  up  greatly  ex- 
cited, told  him  to  get  out  of  the  machine  and  never  to 
enter  one  again,  and  that  he  was  a  disgrace  to  the  service. 


106  AN  EXPLORER 

"I  do  not  think  you  know  who  I  am,"  said  the  distinguished 
pilot, adjusting  his  monocle.  "I  am  General  Brancker."  "Oh, 
I  beg  your  pardon,  sir,"  replied  the  horrified  Lieutenant.  "I 
thought  you  were  that  young 'Hun' who  hopped  off  just 
three  minutes  ago  to  try  and  make  one  more  landing  and 
prove  to  me  that  the  instructor  was  wrong  who  had  given 
him  up  as  hopeless."  Nobody  cared  that  General  Brancker 
did  not  fly  as  well  as  the  younger  pilots.  What  they  did  care 
about  was  that  he  played  the  game  and  was  not  afraid. 

It  is  true  that  in  the  summer  of  1918  orders  were  issued 
in  Washington  encouraging  all  officers  in  the  Air  Service 
to  learn  to  fly,  but  these  orders  could  be  carried  out  only  par- 
tially in  France,  where  facilities  for  preliminary  instruction 
in  flying  were  extremely  limited,  and  where  every  training 
plane  was  needed  to  hasten  the  progress  of  cadets  and  flying 
officers  on  their  way  to  the  Front. 


CHAPTER  X 

A  FEW  HOURS  AT  THE  FRONT 

WE  watched  the  German  advance  toward  Paris 
in  the  spring  of  1918  with  alarm.  Most  of  the 
French  factories  were  in  the  Paris  area,  and  many  of  them 
were  north  of  Paris.  It  was  the  location  in  that "  north  of  Paris  " 
district  of  such  a  very  large  percentage  of  French  munition 
factories,  as  well  as  airplane  works,  that  made  the  situation 
so  serious. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  after  the  downfall  of  Russia, 
the  Huns  gathered  themselves  together  for  a  series  of 
crushing  attacks  in  great  force  on  the  Western  Front  The 
first  came  in  March  and  resulted  in  a  gain  of  about  thirty 
miles.  The  second  came  in  the  early  part  of  April  and  caused 
the  dissolution  of  the  British  Fifth  Army  and  netted  another 
gain  of  about  thirty  miles  for  the  Germans.  The  third  came 
in  the  latter  part  of  May  and  netted  still  another  thirty  miles. 
This  time  the  Huns  reached  the  River  Marne  at  Chateau- 
Thierry,  and  were  stopped  only  by  the  timely  arrival  of  Amer- 
ican troops,  in  particular  by  the  remarkable  work  of  the  7th, 
8th,  and  9th  Machine  Gun  Battalions.  Their  performance 
was  all  the  more  noteworthy  because  they  had  arrived  in 
France  only  six  weeks  before  and  had  not  completed  their 
training. 

The  story  of  how  they  marched  north  to  Chateau -Thierry 
in  the  face  of  thousands  of  war-weary  retreating  French 
troops,  and  of  how  they  refused  to  be  discouraged  by  the 
sight  of  French  machine  gun  battalions,  veteran  troops,  hur- 


108  AN  EXPLORER 

Tying  south  by  the  same  roads  on  which  they  were  slowly 
working  their  way  north,  is  one  that  will  always  make 
Americans  proud.  Our  men  had  never  been  in  action  before, 
yet  they  displayed  a  courage  and  coolness  which  won  un- 
stinted praise  from  the  French  Generals  who  witnessed  their 
performance.  The  French  generously  and  frankly  admitted 
that  it  was  the  Americans  who  had  stopped  the  Germans  at 
Chateau -Thierry. 

It  should  not  be  forgotten,  however,  that  in  this  third  big 
push  the  Huns  had  practically  reached  their  objective  before 
our  troops  came  into  action.  Each  one  of  the  three  big  drives 
had  been  successful  in  gaining  about  thirty  miles  advance 
ground.  If  they  could  manage  to  do  it  once  more — and  there 
was  no  apparent  reason  why  a  fourth  attempt  should  not 
be  as  successful  as  the  first  three  —  it  would  bring  them  so 
near  Paris  that  the  great  manufacturing  area  in  the  district 
inorth  of  Paris  would  either  be  captured  or  entirely  destroyed 
by  artillery  fire.  This  would  mean  the  loss  of  what  was  the 
source  of  more  than  eighty-five  per  cent  of  the  munitions 
that  were  at  that  time  supplying  not  only  the  French  Army, 
but  ours.  We  understood  that  this  referred  particularly  to 
ordnance  and  aeronautical  supplies. 

Furthermore,  such  an  advance  on  the  part  of  the  Germans 
would  enable  them  to  bring  so  large  a  number  of  guns 
to  bear  on  Paris  itself  as  to  necessitate  a  move  south  on 
the  part  of  the  French  Government.  Plans  for  this  move 
seem  to  have  been  perfected  in  the  latter  part  of  June  and 
early  part  of  July.  For  several  weeks  thousands  of  motor 


Formation  Flying-:  Taking-off 





-        < 


Formation  Flying:  Group 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  109 

trucks  waited  for  a  "hurry  call"  to  take  official  Paris  to 
Bordeaux. 

Had  this  happened,  it  is  doubtful  whether  Clemenceau 
could  have  retained  his  hold  on  the  Government.  His  min- 
istry would  probably  have  fallen.  The  Socialists  under 
Briand  would  have  come  in;  and  they  might  have  been 
willing  to  accept  favorable  terms  from  the  Germans.  The 
situation  was  grave  in  the  extreme.  It  looked  as  though 
there  was  an  excellent  probability  that  the  Germans  would 
offer  such  attractive  terms  to  the  new  French  Government 
as  to  force  them  to  realize  that  the  loss  of  the  great  manu- 
facturing district  north  of  Paris  made  it  impractical  and  un- 
wise for  them  to  attempt  to  continue  the  conflict  any  longer. 

Fortunately,  the  thousands  of  trucks  never  were  needed. 
The  rapid  arrival  of  fresh  American  troops,  brought  over 
at  the  expense  of  adequate  shipments  of  supplies,  turned 
the  scales.  The  distribution  of  these  troops  up  and  down 
the  Western  Front  was  one  of  the  master  strokes  of  Mar- 
shal Foch.  The  presence  of  American  soldiers  encouraged 
the  weary  troops  of  the  Allies,  and  the  fact  of  our  being  able 
to  fight  under  the  eyes  of  the  war  veterans  encouraged  our 
men  to  perform  feats  of  valor  practically  unheard  of  in  the 
annals  of  green,  inexperienced  armies. 

One  other  thing  seems  to  have  been  of  paramount  im- 
portance. That  was  the  development  under  Marshal  Foch 
of  aerial  night  reconnaissance.  The  success  of  the  great  Hun 
drives  of  March,  April,  and  May,  1918,  had  been  due  in  a 
large  measure  to  the  old-fashioned  element  of  surprise,  an 


HO  AN  EXPLORER 

element  which  aerial  photographers  and  the  progress  of 
photographic  interpretation  had  almost  eliminated  in  1917. 
The  German  General  Staff  met  this  situation  by  moving 
their  troops  at  night,  and  by  doing  it  in  such  a  manner  as 
to  leave  no  marks  which  the  aerial  photographers  could 
secure  the  next  day.  The  enemy  troops  were  ordered  to 
stick  to  the  roads  and  carefully  instructed  to  make  no  new 
paths.  In  the  daytime  they  were  entirely  concealed  in  vil- 
lages and  woods.  At  night  they  moved  on  foot  and  not  in 
trains,  so  that  balloon  observers  and  others  accustomed  to 
spotting  the  movement  of  trains  would  be  baffled  in  their 
attempts  to  analyze  the  situation.  Furthermore,  no  effort  was 
made  to  prevent  Allied  aerial  reconnaissance  in  the  daytime 
as  had  usually  been  the  case  in  regions  where  large  bodies 
of  troops  were  concentrating.  Finally,  the  shock  troops,  whose 
movements  it  is  to  be  presumed  were  kept  under  peculiar 
surveillance  by  Allied  spies,  and  who  were  in  villages  fifty 
miles  behind  the  lines  the  day  before  the  attack,  were  put 
in  motor  trucks  at  the  last  possible  moment  and  moved  from 
their  rest  billets  directly  into  the  front  line  trenches  on  the 
night  of  the  attack.  In  fact,  it  was  said  that  they  got  out  of 
the  trucks  and  rushed  immediately  into  action. 

In  the  great  drive  which  ended  at  the  bridge  of  Chateau- 
Thierry  we  heard  that  the  French  General  in  command 
of  that  sector  of  the  line  had  learned  of  the  attack  which 
was  to  demolish  him,  only  two  or  three  hours  before  it 
was  upon  him.  He  barely  had  time  to  bring  up  his  reserves. 
His  whole  army  was  crushed  by  a  single  blow.  The  Huns 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  111 

merely  had  to  march  along  comfortably  for  the  next  two 
or  three  days,  capturing  an  enormous  amount  of  material, 
including  several  hundred  hangars  and  a  large  number  of 
the  latest  French  airplanes. 

To  prevent  a  repetition  of  this  complete  surprise,  Mar- 
shal Foch  developed  aerial  night  reconnaissance.  His  planes, 
equipped  with  lights  and  flares,  were  instructed  to  fly  very 
low  over  the  roads  —  so  low,  in  fact,  that  they  could  closely 
observe  the  movement  of  troops  and  estimate  the  character 
and  extent  of  this  movement.  The  German  General  Staff 
was  not  able  to  devise  any  efficient  means  of  stopping  this 
night  reconnaissance.  Accordingly,  when  the  time  came  in 
the  middle  of  June  for  the  next  great  Hun  push  which  was 
to  have  captured  Paris  and  the  munitions  and  airplane  fac- 
tories, Marshal  Foch  knew  just  exactly  where,  and  when, 
it  was  coming.  He  made  his  own  plans  accordingly,  and 
started  a  gigantic  offensive  on  his  own  account  at  the  very 
same  sector  of  the  line,  and  a  few  minutes  before  the  Ger- 
mans were  ready  to  begin  theirs.  As  a  result,  on  July  18 
the  tide  turned  and  France  was  saved.  All  honor  to  those 
brave  French  pilots  who,  in  the  face  of  extraordinary  diffi- 
culties and  unknown  dangers,  were  the  first  to  develop  suc- 
cessfully aerial  night  reconnaissance. 

My  only  experience  at  the  Front  was  on  a  tour  of  inspec- 
tion while  Chief  of  Personnel  in  the  latter  part  of  July,  when 
it  was  my  good  fortune  to  be  permitted  to  see  our  squad- 
rons and  balloon  companies  in  operation  in  the  Chateau- 
Thierry  sector  on  July  23  and  24.  The  Second  Balloon 


112  AN  EXPLORER 

Company  was  only  two  or  three  miles  from  the  retreating 
Germans  at  that  time,  and  had  been  severely  shelled  a  few 
hours  before  my  visit.  One  of  the  shells,  a  six-inch  projectile, 
had  passed  through  the  peak  of  a  shelter  tent,  exploded  in 
the  rocky  hillside  immediately  in  front  of  the  tent,  and  de- 
stroyed the  tent  and  the  tree  behind  it,  without  in  the  least 
injuring  the  lanky  sergeant  who  had  been  resting  within, 
his  feet  only  a  few  inches  from  where  the  shell  struck. 

I  had  the  opportunity  of  going  with  Captain  Philip  J. 
Roosevelt  over  the  battlefields  of  the  preceding  two  or  three 
days  near  Belleau  Wood  and  Vaux,  where  the  dead  were 
still  lying  as  they  had  fallen,  and  where  one  could  not  fail 
to  be  impressed  with  the  enormous  waste  of  men  and  ma- 
terial which  spells  the  modern  battlefield.  It  was  amazing 
to  see  the  thousands  of  hand  grenades  and  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  rounds  of  small  arms  ammunition  that  had 
been  left  on  the  field  without  being  used. 

The  thing  that  surprised  me  most  and  which  we  in  the 
rear  had  heard  least  about  was  the  large  number  of  bal- 
loons that  were  being  used  for  artillery  observation.  One 
could  judge  very  easily  the  approximate  position  of  the  lines 
by  the  balloons.  In  the  early  days  of  the  war  the  reconnais- 
sance airplane,  using  a  small  radio  set,  rapidly  developed 
great  efficiency  in  regulating  artillery  fire.  The  old  type  of 
spherical  balloons  bobbed  about  in  the  air  to  such  an  extent 
that  the  observer  in  the  basket  was  frequently  made  most 
uncomfortable.  The  new  type  of  kite  balloons,  invented  and 
developed  during  the  war,  provided  a  far  more  suitable  plat- 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  113 

form  for  the  observer  than  anything  that  had  previously 
gone  up  in  the  air.  The  harder  the  wind  blew,  the  steadier 
rode  the  balloon  at  the  end  of  its  cable.  By  perfecting  the 
hauling-down  mechanism  it  was  possible,  when  the  bal- 
loon was  attacked,  to  bring  it  safely  to  its  nest  faster  than 
the  fastest  passenger  elevator  descends. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  Germans  had  learned  how  to  make 
artillery  observation  from  an  airplane  very  difficult  by  means 
of  improved  anti-aircraft  fire,  and  very  unsatisfactory  by 
using  powerful  radio  to  counteract  the  radio  messages  sent 
out  by  the  reconnaissance  planes.  Consequently,  the  balloon 
observer  was  at  a  great  advantage  over  the  airplane  observer. 
The  balloon  observer  could  talk  by  means  of  a  telephone 
whose  wire  ran  down  through  the  cable  that  held  the  bal- 
loon, and  could  communicate  most  satisfactorily  with  the 
artillery  commander  without  any  danger  of  having  his  line 
cut  by  the  Germans  except  when  an  attack  by  their  air- 
planes caused  his  hydrogen-inflated  balloon  to  burn  up  and 
necessitated  his  seeking  safety  in  a  parachute  descent.  Not- 
withstanding the  danger  of  being  shot  down  and  the  un- 
pleasant features  of  the  parachute,  only  one  man  was  killed 
on  the  Western  Front  in  a  parachute  descent,  and  this  acci- 
dent was  caused  by  the  parachute  catching  fire  from  the 
burning  balloon. 

Had  we  been  able  to  inflate  our  balloons  with  helium,  a 
quantity  of  which  was  already  on  the  docks  when  the  Ar- 
mistice was  signed,  there  would  have  been  no  danger  from 
fire,  for  helium  is  non-explosive  and  non-inflammable.  Had 


114  AN  EXPLORER 

we  been  able  to  perfect  helium-filled  balloons  with  numer- 
ous compartments,  it  would  have  been  extremely  difficult 
for  the  Germans  to  have  shot  our  balloons  down.  In  the 
future,  this  should  greatly  change  the  whole  process  of 
artillery  observation.  It  will  also  affect  warfare  in  another 
way.  The  Zeppelin  raids  over  London  were  given  up  be- 
cause it  was  so  easy  for  an  airplane,  by  firing  a  few  shots, 
to  bring  down  the  expensive  dirigible  in  flames.  The  use  of 
helium  and  of  a  gas  container  made  up  of  many  sections 
will  make  the  rigid  dirigible  a  very  potent  factor  in  bombing 
raids. 

My  few  hours  at  the  Front  not  only  convinced  me  of  the 
great  value  of  lighter-than-air  ships  for  certain  important 
purposes;  it  also  made  me  realize  more  than  ever  the  neces- 
sity for  close  and  constant  cooperation  between  the  Training 
Schools  and  the  Front.  Hostility  due  to  failure  to  under- 
stand conditions  and  inability  to  appreciate  the  point  of 
view  of  the  hard-working  pilot  at  the  other  end  caused 
mutual  suspicion  and  unfriendliness.  There  should  have 
been  more  rotation  of  the  flying  personnel.  Those  at  the 
Front  naturally  are  sure  they  know  best  what  it  is  they 
want.  Those  at  the  schools  in  the  rear,  conscious  of  their 
own  keen  desire  to  go  to  the  Front  and  to  risk  all  that  any 
one  is  risking,  but  compelled  by  force  of  circumstances  to 
miss  the  thrill  of  actual  combat,  are  obliged  to  take  what 
satisfaction  they  can  in  developing  what  they  think  is  the  best 
system  of  training.  Each  mistrusts  the  other. 

One  of  the  most  serious  faults  of  our  conduct  of  the  war 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  115 

—  so  far  as  the  Air  Service  went — was  the  unwillingness 
of  those  in  command  to  allow  highly  efficient  officers  to  be 
transferred  from  front  to  rear  and  vice  versa;  from  France 
to  America,  and  from  America  to  France.  We  were  grad- 
ually coming  to  this  in  the  autumn  of  1918.  It  is  only  a  pity 
we  did  not  adopt  that  policy  earlier.  I  saw  men  at  schools 
who  were  stale.  I  saw  men  at  the  Front  who  were  stale.  It 
should  be  remembered  that  no  matter  how  good  or  how  im- 
portant a  man  is,  he  is  likely  to  get  into  a  rut  and  become 
stale  if  he  is  kept  too  long  working  at  one  job  under  the 
high  pressure  of  actual  war  conditions.  His  efficiency  will  be 
increased  and  the  whole  service  will  be  improved  if  he  is  not 
kept  too  many  months  at  a  very  interesting  or  highly  im- 
portant piece  of  work. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  THIRD  AVIATION   INSTRUCTION  CENTRE 

IN  August  another  reorganization  of  the  Air  Service  took 
place.  More  activities  were  centred  in  Paris,  and  the  or- 
ganization of  squadrons  was  taken  out  of  the  hands  of  the 
Chief  of  Personnel.  General  Patrick  at  the  same  time  had 
pity  on  the  woes  of  an  explorer  who  had  been  tied  for  many 
months  to  office  work  and  sent  him  to  Issoudun  to  take  com- 
mand of  his  largest  flying  school. 

All  the  American  flying  schools  in  France  were  at  that 
time  (August  23,  1918)  under  the  immediate  direction  of 
Colonel  Walter  G.  Kilner,  Chief  of  Training  for  the  Chief 
of  Air  Service.  Colonel  Kilner  was  the  best  Chief  that  anyone 
in  the  Air  Service  could  ask  to  have.  A  graduate  of  West 
Point  and  of  the  aviation  school  at  San  Diego,  he  had  served 
on  the  Punitive  Expedition  into  Mexico,  had  had  interest- 
ing experiences  with  Mexican  bandits  and  old-fashioned 
"ships,"  was  in  command  at  Mineola  when  I  took  my  tests 
as  a  Reserve  Military  Aviator,  and  had  gone  overseas  with 
General  Foulois.  He  had  shown  extraordinary  ability  at  Is- 
soudun in  bringing  order  out  of  chaos  during  the  winter 
of  1917-18.  He  had  taken  the  school  at  a  time  when  it  is 
said  that  General  Pershing  had  called  it  "the  worst  mud- 
hole  in  France,"  and  in  five  months  had  made  it  "the  most 
comfortable  camp  in  the  A.  E.  F."  His  military  education, 
his  technical  training,  his  ability  as  a  pilot,  and  his  skill  as 
an  administrator  made  him  an  ideal  Chief  of  Training.  He 
was  later  decorated  with  the  Distinguished  Service  Medal. 


Map  of  the  Third 


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ion  Instruction  Centre 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  117 

The  First  Aviation  Instruction  Centre  established  near 
Paris  had  early  been  abandoned,  possibly  because  it  was 
too  near  Paris.  The  Second  Aviation  Instruction  Centre  was 
built  up  from  the  old  French  airdrome  and  flying  school 
on  the  plateau  across  the  river  at  Tours.  It  was  gradually 
enlarged  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  American  service,  and 
for  a  long  time  was  the  principal  place  for  the  preliminary 
training  of  flying  cadets.  For  this  purpose  it  was  equipped 
with  the  old-fashioned  Caudrons.  Later  on  it  was  developed 
entirely  as  a  school  for  training  aerial  observers,  and  as  such 
was  most  successful  under  the  very  competent  direction  of 
Lieutenant-Colonel  S.  W.  Fitzgerald. 

The  story  of  Issoudun,  where  the  Third  Aviation  Instruc- 
tion Centre  was  located,  is  one  full  of  lights  and  shadows. 
Located  on  the  arid  plains  between  the  villages  of  Vatan 
and  Lizaray,  the  camp  was  some  seven  miles  west  of  the 
historic  town  of  Issoudun,  made  famous  by  Balzac.  It  was 
right  in  the  heart  of  France,  about  twenty-five  miles  north  of 
Chateauroux,  about  sixty-five  miles  due  south  of  Orleans, 
and  twenty-five  miles  west  of  Bourges.  It  was  not  far  from 
two  of  the  largest  American  supply  depots,  Gievres  and 
Romorantin.  The  land  was  of  clay  mixed  with  small  shaly 
rocks.  The  soil  was  so  poor  that  villages  and  farmhouses 
were  relatively  few  and  far  between.  This  gave  the  large 
open  spaces  necessary  for  the  flying  fields;  but  the  ground 
was  so  impervious  to  water  that  it  did  not  dry  readily  and 
was  frightfully  muddy  for  months  at  a  time.  In  order  to 
reach  the  selected  location,  an  American  railroad  nine  miles 


118  AN  EXPLORER 

in  length  was  built  to  connect  with  the  French  lines  near 

the  town  of  Issoudun. 

The  "  Third  A.  I.  C. ,"  as  our  post  was  usually  called, 
consisted  of  a  main  camp  containing  headquarters,  hospi- 
tals, instruction  barracks,  quartermaster  stores,  aero  supply 
warehouses,  repair  shops,  sleeping  quarters  for  about  4000 
men,  and  an  assembly  and  test  field ;  and  within  a  radius 
of  five  miles  a  dozen  other  fields,  covering  all  together  about 
fifty  square  miles  of  French  territory.  We  had  over  a  thou- 
sand airplanes  and  could  accommodate  about  the  same 
number  of  students.  There  were  nearly  5000  enlisted  men 
on  duty,  a  number  which  was  soon  increased  until  there  were 
all  together  about  8000  persons,  including  officers,  men, 
Chinese  laborers,  and  German  prisoners,  occupied  in  keep- 
ing this  school  in  operation.  Our  function  was  to  take  avi- 
ators who  had  received  their  preliminary  flying  training  else- 
where and  give  them  advanced  and  special  training,  thereby 
fitting  them  to  become  pursuit,  observation,  or  ferry  pilots, 
as  the  needs  of  the  war  and  the  abilities  of  the  pilots  might 
indicate.  More  than  2000  pilots  were  graduated  here. 

One's  first  impressions  of  Issoudun  depended  entirely  on 
how  one  approached  it. To  the  enlisted  mechanic  of  a  squad- 
ron arriving  at  night  after  a  long  and  tiresome  journey  in 
a  freight  car,  it  must  have  seemed  like  getting  into  any  other 
American  camp  where  there  was  plenty  of  mud  under  foot, 
a  group  of  rough  board  barracks  all  around,  and  the  satisfac- 
tion of  knowing  that  total  ignorance  of  French  was  not  going 
to  spoil  the  comfort  of  his  billet.  On  the  next  day,  or  rather 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  119 

the  next  Sunday  afternoon,  when  he  found  that  he  was  many 
miles  from  an  interesting  town,  it  was  not  so  amusing. 

It  was  my  good  fortune  to  see  Issoudun  first  from  an 
elevation  of  about  ten  thousand  feet.  In  May,  Major  Spatz, 
then  Commanding  Officer,  had  kindly  flown  me  over  from 
Tours.  Fortunately,  I  did  not  know  that  he  had  recently 
been  the  victim  of  two  bad  accidents  and  had  crashed  two 
machines  in  succession  on  landing.  Otherwise,  I  might  not 
have  taken  such  pleasure  in  my  ride !  Seated  for  the  first 
time  in  my  life  in  the  front  seat  of  a  small  Nieuport,  I 
greatly  enjoyed  my  first  cross-country  view  of  France  from 
the  air.  After  passing  for  some  distance  up  the  lovely  valley 
of  the  Cher  and  over  some  extensive  wooded  areas,  we  came 
at  last  in  view  of  widespreading  plains.  As  we  drew  nearer 
I  made  out  little  groups  of  hangars  here  and  there,  and 
finally  realized  that  an  interesting  gray  patch,  colored  some- 
what differently  from  the  surrounding  plain,  was  a  group  of 
buildings  that  included  the  main  barracks,  shops,  and  head- 
quarters of  the  Third  Aviation  Instruction  Centre. 

It  was  always  a  pleasure  to  take  a  visitor  up  and  show 
him  our  camps  and  fields  from  an  airplane,  for  it  was  by  far 
the  easiest  way  to  give  him  an  adequate  idea  of  the  extent 
of  our  plant  and  the  admirable  way  in  which  Colonel  Kilner 
and  his  assistants  had  laid  out  the  fields  so  as  to  utilize  all 
the  available  air  space  within  easy  reach  of  the  main  repair 
shops.  For  this  reason  we  were  keenly  disappointed  when 
Assistant  Secretary  of  War  John  D.  Ryan,  then  in  charge 
of  the  Army  Air  Service,  arrived  on  his  first  and  only  tour  of 


120  AN  EXPLORER 

inspection,  and  declined  to  go  up.  We  had  arranged  to  have 
a  very  comfortable  DH-4  prepared  and  ready  for  this  pur- 
pose, and  had  detailed  to  it  the  most  experienced  and  con- 
servative pilot  on  the  post  We  hoped  that  Mr.  Ryan  would 
thus  get  a  comprehensive  idea  of  his  largest  flying  school. 
I  remember  that  he  gave  as  his  reason  for  not  caring  to  go 
up  that  he  had  made  the  rule  that  civilians  must  not  be 
taken  up  in  army  planes,  and  he  felt  that  he  ought  not  to 
break  his  own  rules ! 

It  was  also  a  keen  disappointment  to  be  visited  at  night 
by  one  of  the  most  influential  members  of  the  Senate  Mili- 
tary Affairs  Committee.  He  arrived  after  dark,  and  left  be- 
fore midnight  There  were  so  many  things  that  one  would 
like  to  have  had  him  see  and  personally  understand!  Of 
course,  there  were  many  other  places  in  France  which  needed 
his  attention  worse  than  ours  did,  but  that  did  not  allay  our 
dissatisfaction  with  his  nocturnal  tour  of  inspection. 

To  the  visiting  officer  who  came  into  our  camp  by  motor 
car  there  was  nothing  very  comprehensive  or  picturesque. 
It  was  not  nearly  as  striking  as  the  average  military  camp 
in  the  United  States,  nor  one-quarter  as  impressive  as  the 
splendid  aviation  fields  at  home.  Aviators  arriving  from  El- 
lington Field  or  Dayton  were  rarely  enthusiastic  about  it.  It 
had  grown  from  very  small  beginnings,  and  had  been  built 
of  whatever  materials  Colonel  Kilner  could  get  hold  of.  The 
barracks  were  of  various  sizes  and  kinds.  The  shops  were 
of  different  vintages.  The  hangars  were  a  medley  of  canvas, 
steel,  and  imitation  concrete. 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  121 

The  first  sign  that  caught  the  eye  on  entering  from  the 
highway  was  Police,  Prison  and  Labor  Officer.  The  fact 
that  a  few  minutes  later  one  found  one's  self  on  the  corner 
of  "Broadway"  and  "Fifth  Avenue  "only  partially  alleviated 
the  shock  one  had  received  from  the  sign  at  the  entrance. 
We  tried  to  be  neat  and  soldierly.  So  we  were  greatly 
pleased  when  a  visiting  Brigadier-General  of  Cavalry  told 
us  that  our  men  saluted  more  snappily  than  those  in  any 
camp  he  had  visited  in  France.  And  we  tried  to  be  as  effi- 
cient as  possible,  but  we  had  no  time  to  go  in  for  handsome 
outward  appearances,  and  the  original  plans  had  not  con- 
templated thrilling  the  natives  by  any  display.  Nevertheless, 
when  we  really  managed  to  get  a  visiting  officer  up  in  the 
air,  it  was  a  pleasure  to  see  the  surprise  and  satisfaction 
on  his  face  as  he  looked  around  over  fifty  square  miles  of 
territory  and  noted  the  evidences  of  American  energy  and 
enterprise. 

So  far  as  I  know,  the  only  General  Officer  ever  to  arrive 
at  Issoudun  by  airplane  was  General  Harbord,  when  he 
was  in  command  of  the  Services  of  Supply.  He  came  down 
from  Tours  one  day  on  a  short  tour  of  inspection  and  was 
piloted  by  Colonel  Kilner,  then  Chief  of  Training.  General 
Harbord  took  a  keen  interest  in  aviation  and  sent  the  follow- 
ing paragraph  about  ourpilots  to  the  editor  of  the  Plane  News, 
our  local  paper : 

In  War,  as  it  is  being  waged  on  the  Western  Front,  the  heir  of  the 
Knights  of  other  days  is  the  pilot  of  the  pursuit  plane.  The  fighting 
pilot,  like  the  Knights  of  old,  goes  forth  to  individual  combat,  where 


122  AN  EXPLORER 

two  may  meet  but  one  alone  depart.  The  greatest  of  Knights  were  the 
finest  men,  and  let  America's  crusaders  ever  uphold  this  tradition — 
chivalrous,  clean  and  fearlessly  fighting  until  we  wipe  from  the  earth 
this  scourge  of  German  Kultur. 

Colonel  Kilner  made  us  frequent  visits  by  air,  and  enor- 
mously increased  the  enthusiasm  of  the  pilots  for  Air  Ser- 
vice management  by  his  own  personal  enthusiasm  for  fly- 
ing and  fearlessness  in  travelling  about  France  wherever  he 
needed  to  go  by  air  instead  of  by  road.  He  had  had  several 
crashes  in  his  career,  both  in  Mexico  and  California,  as  well 
as  in  France,  and  he  was  thoroughly  familiar  with  the  psy- 
chology of  discomfort  following  a  bad  crash,  but  this  never 
induced  him  to  accept  the  excuse  of  being  "too  busy"  to  fly, 
or  of  claiming  that  it  was  so  important  that  he  reach  a  given 
point  on  time  that  he  could  not  afford  to  take  the  risks  of 
aerial  transportation.  I  know  from  personal  experience  after 
two  bad  crashes  how  easy  it  is  to  accept  the  belief  that  one 
is  not  feeling  well  enough  to  fly.  Everybody  knows  that  one 
ought  not  to  fly  except  when  feeling  well ! 

In  administrating  the  Third  Aviation  Instruction  Centre 
I  followed  the  general  principle  of  giving  the  heads  of  de- 
partments, and  in  particular  the  Commanding  Officers  of 
the  outlying  fields,  the  fullest  measure  of  responsibility,  ex- 
pecting certain  results,  but  not  directing  the  details  or  the 
methods  by  which  these  results  were  to  be  achieved.  Where 
results  did  not  materialize,  where  inspection  disclosed  un- 
satisfactory conditions,  where  criticism  did  not  bear  fruit, 
the  responsible  heads  were  quickly  removed  and  the  best 


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IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  123 

men  available  put  in  their  places.  On  the  other  hand,  where 
results  were  satisfactory,  encouragement  was  given  to  those 
who  were  responsible  for  the  results,  their  recommendations 
for  promotion  were  almost  invariably  accepted,  approved, 
and  forwarded,  and  their  wishes  and  desires  were  given  the 
utmost  possible  consideration. 

Every  day  at  noon  there  met  with  me  my  chief  assist- 
ants, including  the  Post  Executive  Officer,  the  Post  Adjutant, 
the  Chief  Aeronautical  Engineer,  the  Construction  and 
Maintenance  Officer,  the  Officer  in  Charge  of  Flying,  the 
Chairman  of  the  Medical  Research  Board,  the  Commanding 
Officer  of  the  Hospital,  the  Post  Quartermaster,  the  Com- 
manding Officer  of  Student  Officers,  Commanding  Officers 
of  outlying  fields,  the  Liaison  Officer,  the  Police,  Prison  and 
Labor  Officer,  the  Post  Disbursing  Officer,  the  Personnel  Offi- 
cer, and  the  Officer  in  charge  of  Aerial  Gunnery.  At  this 
meeting  every  one  had  a  chance  to  report  progress,  to  air  his 
grievances,  and  to  become  familiar  with  the  successes  and 
failures  of  the  others. 

Special  stress  was  laid  on  the  fact  that  my  staff  officers, 
visiting  outlying  fields  and  speaking  in  the  name  of  the  Post 
Commander,  must  give  their  instructions  through  the  Com- 
manding Officer  of  the  outlying  field,  who  was  personally 
responsible  to  the  Post  Commander  in  the  same  compre- 
hensive manner  that  the  Post  Commander  was  responsible 
to  the  Chief  of  Training  at  Headquarters.  This  method  of 
administrating  a  post  that  included  nearly  6000  enlisted  men, 
450  German  prisoners,  250  Chinese  coolies,  and  from  1100 


124  AN  EXPLORER 

to  1400  officers,  most  of  them  student  officers,  proved  to  be 
satisfactory.  The  Inspector-General,  in  his  report  to  the  Com- 
manding General,  S.  O.  S., dated  November  26, 1918,on  the 
subject  of  his  inspection  of  the  Third  Aviation  Instruction 
Centre,  took  occasion  to  commend  the  Post  Commander  "for 
the  efficient  condition  of  this  Centre." 

He  also  spoke  of  the  competition  between  the  fields  which 
was  used  to  maintain  a  high  standard  of  efficiency  and  said, 
"A  spirit  of  friendly  rivalry  exists  which  has  kept  up  the  in- 
terest of  the  personnel  since  the  signing  of  the  Armistice." 
President  Lowell  of  Harvard  University  once  published  in 
the  Atlantic  Monthly  an  article  on  the  importance  of  com- 
petition as  a  stimulant  for  undergraduate  activities,  both 
physical  and  mental.  Ever  since  reading  it  I  have  been  a  sin- 
cere believer  in  the  value  of  competition  as  a  spur  to  high 
endeavor. 

The  nature  of  the  Nieuport  plane,  which  was  the  only 
one  available  in  large  quantities  for  training  purposes,  was 
such  as  to  require  a  graded  course,  as  will  be  described  in 
another  chapter.  It  was  not  an  ideal  course,  but  was,  I  be- 
lieve, the  best  that  could  be  devised  in  view  of  the  equipment 
available.  However,  the  principle  of  having  a  large  number 
of  small  fields  under  semi-independent  commands,  each 
using  two  or  three  hundred  enlisted  men,  and  doing  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  repairing,  and  using  the  main  field  for  as- 
sembly and  rebuilding  and  for  the  principal  warehouse, 
hospital,  quartermaster,  etc.,  worked  out  extremely  well. 

These  fields  were  generally  about  two  miles  apart,  so  that 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  125 

the  air  was  not  crowded  even  when  there  were  several  hun- 
dred planes  in  commission  and  a  thousand  students  being 
taught.  Daily  meetings  of  the  Commanding  Officers  of  the 
fields,  frequent  meetings  of  Engineer  Officers,  Officers  in 
Charge  of  Flying,  and  Supply  Officers  enabled  proper  co- 
ordination to  take  place  and  homogeneous  planning  to  be 
carried  out.  I  believe  that  the  ideal  aviation  training  cen- 
tre consists  of  a  central  plant  easily  reached  by  road  and 
air,  and  a  dozen  surrounding  fields  where  preliminary,  ad- 
vanced, and  specialized  flying  and  aerial  gunnery  are  taught. 
My  duties  at  Headquarters  were  gready  facilitated  by 
the  skill  and  long  army  experience  of  Captain  Lester  Cum- 
mings,  who  was  my  first  Adjutant,  and  who  later  took 
charge  of  preparing  squadrons  for  departure.  My  second 
Adjutant  was  Captain  William  V.  Saxe,  whose  success  was 
due  to  his  unselfish  zeal  for  whatever  work  was  assigned 
him,  combined  with  unusual  charm  of  manner  and  unfailing 
courtesy.  It  was  most  fortunate  for  me  that  Major  Tom  G. 
Lanphier,  a  veteran  of  Chateau -Thierry,  was  completing 
his  flying  training  just  as  I  arrived.  His  ability  to  command 
had  been  evident  on  the  Aquitania,  where  I  had  been  im- 
pressed by  the  way  he  handled  the  troops  at  life-boat  drill. 
His  familiarity  with  the  workings  of  every  field  on  the  post, 
his  skill  as  a  pilot,  and  his  loyalty  made  him  an  ideal  Execu- 
tive Officer.  He  afterwards  took  command  of  the  post 


CHAPTER  XII 

TRAINING  AVIATORS 

THE  plan  for  Issoudun  was  that  it  should  be  used 
chiefly  as  a  place  where  pilots  already  fully  trained  in 
the  United  States  should  have  a  "refresher  course"  before 
being  sent  to  the  Front.  Due  to  the  lack  of  advanced  training 
planes  in  the  United  States  and  the  fact  that  it  was  practically 
impossible  during  the  continuance  of  the  war  for  our  pilots 
to  do  much  more  than  get  their  preliminary  training  and 
"acquire  their  wings"  before  coming  to  France,  it  became 
necessary  to  develop  at  Issoudun  a  complete  course  in  ad- 
vanced flying  and  in  aerial  tactics.  This  was  also  made  ne- 
cessary because  so  many  hundreds  of  cadets  had  been  sent 
to  France  without  any  flying  training  at  all,  and  could  secure 
only  preliminary  instruction  at  the  French  schools  or  at  our 
own  Second  Aviation  Instruction  Centre  at  Tours. 

The  history  of  the  Training  Department  shows  a  mar- 
vellous growth.  For  its  details  I  am  indebted  to  Lieutenant 
Thomas  Ward,  who  had  been  a  member  of  the  celebrated 
First  Reserve  Aero  Squadron,  and  whose  knowledge  of  the 
complete  story  of  Issoudun  was  second  to  none.  Very  little 
flying  was  done  in  the  fall  of  1917,  but  in  December  the 
records  show  1117  hours  of  flying  for  the  month,  which 
was  increased  in  January  to  2812 ;  February, 34 14 ;  March, 
4205 ;  April,  7392.  There  was  a  slight  falling  offin  Mayand 
June,  due  to  various  causes,  chiefly  the  great  difficulty  of 
keeping  the  Nieu ports  in  commission  during  the  warm,  wind- 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  127 

less  days  of  the  late  spring.  In  July  the  flying  time  increased 
to  9350  hours ;  in  August  to  12,510 ;  falling  off  in  September 
to  9562,  but  under  the  very  able  leadership  of  Captain  H.  C. 
Ferguson  breaking  all  records  in  October  with  a  total  of 
17,1 13  hours  for  the  month.  In  November,  after  the  Armis- 
tice was  signed,  the  pressure  let  down  and  we  flew  only 
10,041  hours.  Captain  Ferguson,  first  as  Commanding  Offi- 
cer of  Field  5  and  later  as  Officer  in  Charge  of  Flying,  showed 
remarkable  ability,  determination,  and  initiative. 

In  October  and  November,  1917,  there  had  been  a  great 
deal  of  wet  weather,  and  the  clay-covered  fields  of  Issoudun 
were  converted  into  oceans  of  mud.  Attempts  to  fly  caused 
much  breakage  of  propellers  until  Captain  Rickenbacker, 
who  acted  as  Engineer  Officer  and  was  the  first  student 
graduated  from  the  school,  invented  a  mudguard  which 
prevented  the  wheels  from  throwing  mud  and  stones  directly 
into  the  propeller.  Incidentally,  it  was  quite  appropriate 
that  the  first  graduate  of  Issoudun  should  later  become  the 
leading  American  ace. 

It  may  be  interesting  to  note  at  this  point  that  another 
well-known  ace,  Captain  Douglas  Campbell,  was  the  first 
Assistant  Officer  in  Charge  of  Training  here.  The  fifth  to 
graduate  was  Captain  Hamilton  Coolidge,  who  had  a  splen- 
did record  at  the  Front  with  eight  Huns  to  his  credit  when 
he  was  killed  by  a  direct  hit  from  an  anti-aircraft  gun. 
The  seventh  graduate  was  Lieutenant  Quentin  Roosevelt, 
who  was  at  one  time  Post  Quartermaster,  Supply  Officer, 
and  Transportation  Officer,  and  after  he  had  completed  his 


128  AN  EXPLORER 

training,  took  charge  of  training  at  Field  7.  He  had  his 
father's  wonderful  courage  and  fine  enthusiasm. 

At  the  beginning  no  definite  course  of  instruction  was 
laid  out  Most  of  the  teachers  were  French  pilots,  who  nat- 
urally used  the  ideas  then  in  vogue  at  the  French  schools 
which  they  had  attended.  Their  methods  were  better 
adapted  for  French  than  American  aviators.  The  course  at 
Issoudun  was  not  thought  out  on  paper  beforehand  by  a  the- 
orist, but  was  gradually  evolved  under  the  most  strenuous 
conditions  imaginable  and  contained  ideas  derived  from  a 
very  considerable  number  of  the  best  American  pilots  in 
France.  With  a  true  sense  of  the  importance  of  having  the 
best  possible  teachers  and  a  keen  realization  of  the  old  adage 
that  "a  stream  cannot  rise  higher  than  its  source,"  it  was 
early  determined  to  retain  only  the  very  best  American 
pilots  for  teachers  and  instructors.  Each  man  that  went 
through  the  school  was  jealously  watched  by  those  in 
charge  of  the  work  at  the  different  fields,  and  if  they  saw 
unusual  qualities  in  him,  he  was  promptly  requisitioned 
as  a  member  of  the  staff.  Of  course  this  was  very  hard  on 
the  individual.  Occasionally  it  worked  backward.  In  one 
case  an  unusually  good  pilot,  knowing  that  he  was  being 
selected  as  a  teacher,  deliberately  broke  the  flying  rules  on 
the  last  day  of  his  course  in  order  to  spoil  his  record.  He 
knew  that  we  would  not  want  a  man  for  a  teacher  who  had 
a  bad  record  in  the  school,  and  he  thought  that  he  would 
be  sent  to  the  Front  if  he  was  not  good  enough  for  a  teacher. 
He  was  promptly  assigned  to  an  unattractive  ground  job. 


s 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  129 

Men  who  did  not  obey  the  rules  were  not  wanted  at  the 
Front 

With  true  American  devotion  to  high  ideals,  the  great 
majority  of  the  first-class  pilots  selected  as  instructors  cheer- 
fully gave  up  the  chance  of  becoming  aces  themselves  in 
order  to  perfect  the  output  of  the  school  and  thus  to  help 
increase  the  total  number  of  American  aces  at  the  Front. 
In  order  to  prevent  our  self-sacrificing  instructors  from 
getting  stale,  a  few  were  allowed  to  take  turns  in  going  to 
the  Front  for  a  month  at  a  time.  This  gave  them  new  ideas 
and  new  experiences.  When  they  came  back  to  the  school 
they  had  the  advantage  in  every  case  of  having  success- 
fully brought  down  one  or  more  Huns.  This  increased  their 
prestige  with  their  students  and  let  them  feel  that  they  had 
had  their  chance  at  a  little  real  action.  Occasionally,  pilots 
who  had  been  at  the  Front  for  six  months  or  more  and  who 
were  tired  out  were  sent  back  to  the  school  as  teachers.  Those 
who  ha  ve  been  in  the  teaching  profession  know  that  a  teacher 
who  is  tired  is  seldom  very  effective.  These  pilots  were  no 
exception  to  the  general  rule.  Two  or  three  of  them  were 
unusually  good,  but  our  experience  with  the  majority  led 
us  to  believe  that  the  best  instructors  were  not  those  who 
had  become  unfitted  for  duty  at  the  Front,  but  those  who  had 
learned  the  importance  of  teaching  and  were  glad  to  take 
advantage  of  a  few  weeks  at  the  Front  to  increase  their  effi- 
ciency in  the  game  for  which  they  were  preparing  others. 

With  such  a  splendid  staff  as  was  gradually  built  up  by 
following  this  policy,  it  was  only  necessary  to  show  each  man 


130  AN  EXPLORER 

that  his  ideas  would  be  welcomed  and  to  allow  him  to  put 
into  practice  his  own  theories  of  teaching  in  order  to  de- 
velop a  very  thorough  course  of  study.  Since  it  in  no  way 
rested  on  the  ideas  of  a  non-flying  general  staff,  nor  on  the 
preconceived  notions  of  one  or  two  flying  officers,  nor  on 
the  arbitrary  decision  of  a  small  group  of  outside  experts, 
it  was  most  flexible  and  was  constandy  undergoing  change 
and  improvement. 

The  problem  of  training  a  pilot  who  had  received  his 
preliminary  work  on  a  slow  flying  Caudron  was  much  more 
difficult  than  that  of  one  who  had  been  trained  on  a  Curtiss 
JN-4  H.  No  man  was  kept  back  by  reason  of  the  awkward- 
ness of  his  fellow  students.  Every  pilot  was  encouraged  to  go 
ahead  as  fast  as  possible,  or  rather  as  fast  as  our  supply  of 
the  most  advanced  type  of  planes  permitted.  In  the  begin- 
ning of  his  course,  however,  it  was  necessary  for  the  student 
to  remain  assigned  to  a  section  until  he  had  completed  the 
preliminary  groundwork  of  aerial  gunnery  and  motor  in- 
struction and  had  passed  through  the  course  in  Rouleurs  on 
Field  1. 

At  some  of  the  French  schools  the  Rouleurs  were  espe- 
pecially  built  "penguins,"  which  were  guaranteed  not  to  fly. 
At  Issoudun,  however,  we  were  accustomed  to  use  what 
we  could  get  In  this  case  the  best  thing  available  was  a 
Morane  monoplane  from  which  the  ailerons  had  been  taken, 
and  which  was  equipped  with  a  40  to  50  H.P.  Gnome  motor. 

Many  of  the  boys  who  had  learned  to  fly  in  the  States 
could  not  understand  why  they  were  put  on  non-flying 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  131 

Rouleurs  before  being  sent  up  in  the  air.  Some  of  them,  in 
fact,  managed  to  get  by  Field  1  without  really  learning 
what  the  work  there  had  to  teach  them.  Later  they  had  to 
be  sent  back  from  one  of  the  advanced  fields  because  they 
were  unable  to  make  proper  use  of  the  rudder  when  taking 
off,  taxying,or  landing.  They  were  finally  ready  to  admit  that 
the  rudders  of  small  fast  planes,  designed  for  successful  use 
in  the  air  when  travelling  at  more  than  one  hundred  and 
twenty  miles  an  hour,  are  not  large  enough  when  the  plane 
is  going  over  the  ground  at  only  twenty-five  to  thirty  miles 
an  hour.  The  pilot  must  use  his  rudder  very  gently  in  the 
air,  but  very  roughly  on  the  ground.  If  he  does  not  thoroughly 
understand  handling  the  small  rudder  of  the  fastscout  planes, 
it  will  be  almost  impossible  for  him  tomakethem  roll  straight 
on  the  ground.  Most  of  our  advanced  planes  were  short- 
bodied  Nieu ports  equipped  with  rotary  motors.  As  I  have 
already  said  in  speaking  of  the  troubles  of  our  cadets,  the 
Nieu  ports  were  extremely  fond  of  making  a  violent  and  un- 
expected turn  on  the  ground — the  cheval  de  bois. 

The  lower  left  wing  of  the  Nieuport  has  a  slightly  greater 
angle  of  incidence  than  the  corresponding  wing  on  the  other 
side.  This  is  in  order  to  aid  the  pilot  in  overcoming  the  effect 
of  the  torque  of  the  rotary  motor.  It  causes  the  left  wing  to 
drag  a  bit,  and  this  makes  it  more  difficult  to  roll  straight 
on  the  ground.  This  tendency  is  still  further  increased  in 
landing  on  a  field  that  is  not  quite  level  (and  few  French 
fields  were  really  level).  If  in  landing  you  happen  to  light  on 
one  wheel  with  greater  force  than  on  the  other,  the  tendency 


132  AN  EXPLORER 

of  the  Nieuport  to  turn  abruptly  and  unexpectedly  is  very 
marked.  It  will  readily  be  seen  that  it  was  very  neces- 
sary for  the  student  to  understand  thoroughly  the  use  of  a 
small  rudder  when  operating  on  the  ground.  We  found  the 
cranky,  non-flying  "clipped"  monoplanes  very  useful  for 
this  purpose. 

Students  were  also  encouraged  to  study  the  action  of  the 
motor  before  starting  on  their  first  ride,  and  to  keep  the  ap- 
plication of  power  as  steady  as  possible,  since  the  slip  stream 
of  air  from  the  propeller  acting  on  the  rudder  is  the  force 
that  causes  the  latter  to  become  effective. 

The  student's  first  trip  was  straight  across  the  field, 
towards  a  soldier  who  was  stationed  at  the  far  end,  whose 
duty  it  was  to  help  him  turn  round  and  to  start  his  motor 
in  case  he  stalled  it,  as  frequently  happened.  The  student 
was  not  accompanied  by  a  teacher  in  his  wild  ride.  It  was  the 
duty  of  the  teacher  to  watch  carefully  the  cause  of  any  diffi- 
culties and  observe  whether  the  student  was  avoiding  trouble 
by  going  too  slow,  or  was  really  learning  to  make  proper 
use  of  the  rudder.  The  second  trip  was  made  at  a  higher 
rate  of  speed,  but  with  the  control  stick  pulled  well  back 
and  the  tail  held  firmly  on  the  ground.  When  the  pilot  had 
succeeded  in  making  a  good  round  trip  with  the  tail  skid 
helping  to  keep  him  straight  by  plowing  through  the  field, 
he  was  told  to  get  the  tail  off  the  ground  for  a  few  rods  and 
then  "make  a  landing." 

It  was  possible  to  run  these  "buses  "at  about  forty  miles  an 
hour  without  having  them  leave  the  ground  except  by  leaps 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  133 

and  bounds,  but  unless  one  gave  a  sharp  kick  on  the  rud- 
der and  then  instantly  brought  it  back  to  neutral  at  the 
psychological  moment,  the  tendency  to  travel  in  anything 
but  a  straight  line  was  made  manifest.  When  the  student 
started  using  the  elevators  in  order  to  get  the  tail  off  the 
ground,  he  generally  began  to  think  less  about  the  impor- 
tance of  instantaneous  action  on  the  rudder.  Or  he  forgot 
the  small  size  of  the  field,  and  this  spelled  trouble. 

I  never  shall  forget  my  fifth  trip  across  the  field,  when, 
having  acquired  some  confidence  in  my  ability  to  keep  the 
pesky  thing  on  a  straight  line,  I  overran  the  limits  of  the 
somewhat  restricted  area,  rolled  into  a  ditch,  and  turned 
upside  down.  There  were  a  number  of  rules  posted  on  the 
bulletin  board  at  this  field,  which  every  one  was  supposed 
to  digest  before  taking  his  lessons.  One  was :  "Do  not  over- 
shoot the  field,  as  you  will  only  crash  and  will  not  learn 
anything!"  Obviously,  students  occasionally  forgot  this 
rule. 

Another  was:  "Never  raise  the  tail  of  a  machine  unless 
told  to  do  so  by  an  instructor,  and  then  only  when  coming 
into  the  wind — never  with  the  wind."  This  rule  was  oc- 
casionally disregarded  by  high-ranking  pilots  from  the  reg- 
ular army  who  scorned  to  listen  to  the  instructor,  and  who, 
consequently,  caused  extensive  repairs  to  be  made  to  the 
unfortunate  Rouleurs.  The  students'  confidence  in  their 
ability  to  taxy  at  a  rapid  rate  was  considerably  lessened  by 
the  number  of  accidents — not  serious,  although  quite  humil- 
iating— which  they  saw  while  awaiting  their  turn.  It  was 


134  AN  EXPLORER 

not  uncommon  for  several  of  these  queer  looking  birds  to  be 
flat  on  their  backs  at  the  same  time. 

After  having  satisfied  the  instructors  at  Field  1  of  their 
ability  to  use  the  rudder,  the  students  walked  over  to  Field 
2,  where  dual  control  machines,  operated  by  experienced  in- 
structors, were  ready  to  give  them  their  first  experience  in 
actual  flying  in  France.  On  this  field  we  used  the  23 -meter 
Nieuport  That  is  to  say,  the  total  wing  surface  was  23 
square  meters.  To  one  accustomed  to  the  Curtiss  JN-4,  the 
very  small  lower  wings  and  the  absence  of  perpendicular 
struts  made  the  ship  seem  quite  fragile. 

The  80  H.P.  Le  Rhone  motor  used  on  these  machines 
had  a  comparatively  short  life — forty  hours  being  consid- 
ered a  good  average.  Once  the  student  learned  to  handle  it, 
however,  he  became  very  fond  of  this  light  and  relatively 
quiet  French  engine.  Three  or  four  Le  Rhones  acting  to- 
gether did  not  make  as  much  noise  as  a  single  Liberty  motor ; 
nor,  it  should  be  added,  did  they  produce  as  much  power. 

To  one  accustomed  to  the  American  stationary  internal 
combustion  motor,  like  the  Curtiss  OX,  the  operation  of  the 
French  throttle  required  study  and  practice.  The  throttle 
consists  of  two  levers  called  "manettes."  The  motor  is  fitted 
with  an  external  mixing  chamber  or  carburetor,  the  mixed 
gasoline  and  air  being  sucked  in  through  the  inlet  valve. 
By  opening  the  small  manette,  the  flow  of  gas  to  the  jet  is 
regulated.  The  large  manette  is  actually  the  throttle  con- 
trolling the  mixture  of  gas  and  air.  It  was  very  important 
for  the  student  to  understand  the  use  of  both  manettes. 


Field  2 :  Instructor  and  Student  starting  on  a  lesson 


Held  2:  Nieuport  81,  23-metcr,  80  H.P.  Le Rhone  motor 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  135 

He  also  had  to  learn  to  keep  his  left  hand  constantly  on  them 
while  flying.  It  finally  became  second  nature  to  him  to  keep 
adjusting  them  so  as  to  make  his  motor  run  smoothly.  His 
reaction  to  "skipping" or  "popping"  came  to  be  immediate 
and  instantaneous. 

We  tried  to  teach  the  operation  of  the  manettes  as  thor- 
oughly as  possible  before  the  student  went  to  Field  1.  While 
there  our  students  got  practice  in  keeping  the  left  hand 
always  on  the  throttle  to  prevent  its  slipping  and  thereby 
changing  the  speed  of  the  propeller.  American  trained  stu- 
dents, having  learned  to  rely  on  the  Zenith  carburetor  of  the 
Curtiss  engine,  found  it  difficult  to  learn  that  the  manettes 
needed  constant  attention.  Furthermore,  students  from  the 
United  States,  where  the  throttle  is  usually  on  the  right- 
hand  side  and  where  the  importance  of  using  the  French 
type  of  switch  for  the  magneto  had  not  been  emphasized, 
found  it  useful  to  familiarize  themselves  with  those  pecul- 
iarities while  still  on  the  exciting  Rouleurs.  Yet  it  was  diffi- 
cult to  tell  whether  the  student  had  really  taken  it  all  in  until 
he  began  to  fly  in  the  dual  control  machines.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  many  of  the  students  had  to  be  instructed  all  over 
again  on  a  motor  located  for  this  purpose  back  of  one  of 
the  hangars  on  Field  2. 

Even  the  instructors,  however,  did  not  always  agree  as 
to  the  best  method  of  operating  the  manettes !  In  order  to 
enable  their  discussions  to  be  thoroughly  understood  by  all 
parties,  a  special  set  of  manettes  was  fastened  to  the  fire- 
place in  the  attractive  club-room  which  had  been  con- 


136  AN  EXPLORER 

structed  for  the  use  of  instructors  on  this  field  by  Captain 
T.  C.  Knight,  the  Commanding  Officer  of  Fields  1  and  2, 
who  was  particularly  successful  in  working  out  the  various 
problems  that  arose  on  these  fields. 

The  length  of  time  which  a  student  had  to  spend  on 
Field  2  depended  entirely  on  himself  and  his  ability  to  learn 
rapidly  and  to  demonstrate  his  efficiency  not  only  to  the  in- 
structor to  whom  he  was  assigned,  but  also  to  another  first- 
class  pilot  known  as  the  tester,  who  gave  him  his  final 
examination.  If  he  failed  to  satisfy  the  tester  that  he  had 
mastered  the  intricacies  of  flying  the  23-meter  Nieuport, 
he  was  sent  back  to  his  instructor  for  further  lessons. 
Each  instructor  was  allowed  to  follow  his  own  ideas  to 
a  very  considerable  extent,  although  all  were  obliged  to  ride 
in  the  front  seat.  Some  used  the  telephone  and  some  found 
that  the  students  did  better  when  left  alone,  and  when  they 
were  not  trying  to  listen  to  the  telephone  and  "feel"  the 
ship  at  the  same  time. 

The  23 -meter  Nieuport  is  not  very  stable  in  the  air,  and 
if  the  pilot  tries  to  climb  too  rapidly  or  fails  to  nose  down 
when  he  develops  motor  trouble,  the  plane  quickly  stalls 
and  falls  sideways,  generally  going  into  a  spin.  If  this  oc- 
curs near  the  ground,  the  result  is  disastrous ;  if  at  an  ele- 
vation of  six  or  seven  hundred  meters,  it  is  generally  pos- 
sible to  come  out  of  the  spin  before  reaching  the  ground. 

Since  most  of  our  students  had  received  their  prelimi- 
nary training  with  a  stationary  motor,  they  found  it  difficult 
to  understand  the  gyroscopic  action  of  the  rotary  motor, 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  137 

which  inclines  to  pull  the  nose  of  the  plane  down  into  a 
spin  if  it  is  not  held  level  on  a  turn.  In  flying  the  JN-4  we 
used  to  be  told  to  nose  down  on  the  turns  so  as  to  avoid 
losing  flying  speed.  This  tendency  of  the  Curtiss  trained 
pilots  had  to  be  overcome  before  it  was  safe  to  let  them  fly 
with  a  rotary  motor.  American  trained  pilots  were  also  in- 
clined to  fly  with  too  little  rudder.  I  remember  receiving  a 
striking  lesson  from  the  Chief  Instructor  at  San  Diego,  who 
was  sure  I  used  my  rudder  too  much  and  consequently 
made  me  fly  about  the  field  with  my  feet  actually  off"  the 
rudder  bar,  guiding  the  machine  solely  by  use  of  the  aile- 
rons. One  cannot  do  that  with  the  Nieuport  23.  It  requires 
the  use  of  the  rudder  at  all  times.  Furthermore,  the  rotary 
motor  makes  the  technique  of  a  right-hand  turn  quite  differ- 
ent from  that  of  a  left-hand  turn. 

I  mention  these  matters  in  some  detail  because  many 
people  found  it  difficult  to  understand  why,  after  a  pilot 
had  earned  his  wings  in  the  United  States,  it  was  neces- 
sary to  give  him  instruction  in  a  dual  control  machine  in 
France.  At  times  considerable  pressure  was  brought  to  bear 
upon  us  to  let  the  American  trained  pilots  go  direcdy  into 
the  fastest  and  smallest  scout  planes  without  giving  them 
the  instruction  just  described.  We  felt  that  this  would  be  in 
some  cases  inexcusable  homicide.  On  the  other  hand,  some 
of  the  men  who  were  "born  pilots"  needed  less  than  an 
hour's  instruction  on  Fields  1  and  2  before  they  were  able 
to  go  on  to  Field  3. 

After  the  pilot  had  satisfied  the  instructor  and  the  tester 


138  AN  EXPLORER 

that  he  could  take  his  Nieuport  off  the  ground  in  the  de- 
sired direction  without  having  it  turn  away  from  the  wind, 
that  he  knew  how  to  climb  on  his  first  turn,  throttle  his 
motor  down  so  as  to  secure  maximum  efficiency  in  level 
flight,  make  his  turns  without  losing  any  elevation,  avoid 
"skidding"  (caused  by  too  much  rudder  and  too  little  bank), 
avoid  "slipping"  (caused  by  too  little  rudder  and  too  much 
bank),  make  "three-point  landings"  with  the  wheels  and 
the  tail  skid  hitting  at  the  same  moment,  and,  by  the  proper 
use  of  his  rudder,  overcome  the  tendency  of  the  Nieu- 
port to  "cheval,"  he  was  given  a  card  that  admitted  him  to 
Field  3. 

At  Field  3  he  found  a  23-meter  Nieuport  not  fitted  with 
dual  controls,  but  intended  for  solo  flying.  The  absence  of 
the  instructor  in  the  front  seat  not  only  made  the  machine 
lighter  and  enabled  it  to  leave  the  ground  more  quickly 
and  climb  faster,  but  also  had  a  psychological  effect  in  mak- 
ing the  pilot  realize  that  he  had  no  one  but  himself  to  de- 
pend upon.  This  ship  is  an  excellent  machine  to  use  in 
carrying  single  passengers  and  landing  in  small  fields.  It 
does  not  glide  far,  and  therefore  does  not  cause  the  embar- 
rassments that  occur  when  using  the  DH-4.  However,  it  has 
a  very  considerable  tendency  to  make  violent  turns  while 
gaining  flying  speed  and  before  leaving  the  ground.  Fur- 
thermore,itis  not  easy  to  keep  it  rolling  smoothly  in  a  straight 
line  when  you  land.  Nevertheless,  after  overcoming  the  ef- 
fects of  two  bad  crashes  in  this  cranky  little  ship,  I  became 
very  fond  of  it  personally  and  used  it  almost  entirely  when 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  139 

inspecting  from  the  air  during  the  last  three  months  of  my 
stay  in  France,  although  I  should  have  preferred  an  Avro. 

The  work  at  Field  3  consisted  in  making  the  student  as 
familiar  as  possible  with  the  Nieuport  23  and  giving  him 
plenty  of  confidence.  He  was  required  to  make  a  sufficient 
number  of  landings  to  overcome  his  dread  of  unexpected 
turns.  His  air  work  was  carefully  watched  to  make  sure 
that  he  was  equally  good  on  both  left-hand  and  right-hand 
turns.  He-  was  required  to  make  spiral  turns  of  more  than 
45°  to  determine  whether  he  was  able  to  use  his  elevators  as 
a  rudder  and  his  rudders  as  an  elevator  when  banking  over 
to  that  extent 

His  instruction  in  cross-country  flying  depended  to  a  cer- 
tain extent  on  what  kind  of  planes  we  had.  At  various  times 
the  15-meter  Nieuport,  the  18-meter,  and  the  23-meter  were 
used  for  this  purpose,  depending  on  the  number  of  ships  in 
commission.  The  course  was  designed  to  familiarize  the 
pilot  with  the  difference  between  flying  over  France  and  flying 
over  the  United  States.  Most  of  our  fields  in  America  were  so 
located  that  any  one  with  average  intelligence  could  find  his 
way  back  to  the  field  without  the  use  of  a  map  or,  if  required 
to  use  a  map,  would  be  left  in  no  doubt  whatever  as  to  his 
whereabouts.  In  France,  however,  with  its  large  number  of 
small  towns  and  villages  that  looked  very  much  alike  from  the 
air,  its  great  number  of  straight,  white  roads  leading  in 
every  direction,  its  crazy-quilt  design  of  small  cultivated 
fields,  bewildering  in  their  similarity  and  complexity,  the 
chance  of  getting  lost  in  the  air  even  while  using  one  of  the 


140  AN  EXPLORER 

excellent  French  maps  was  very  considerable.  The  shape 
of  the  forested  areas  was  the  most  important  thing  to  learn. 
Our  pilots  were  fond  of  telling  the  story  of  a  champion  cross- 
country flyer  from  the  United  States  who  had  never  had 
any  difficulty  with  map  reading  and  who  scoffed  at  the  idea 
that  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  learn  anything  additional 
in  this  subject  at  Issoudun,  getting  totally  lost  on  his  first 
cross-country  flight.  He  flew  until  obliged  to  land  because 
he  was  out  of  gas.  He  finally  had  to  telephone  from  some 
distant  point  to  have  somebody  come  and  rescue  him.  In 
the  United  States  he  had  flown  by  roads  and  large  rivers. 
In  France  there  were  too  many  of  the  first  and  too  few  of 
the  second. 

In  addition  to  this  cross-country  work  at  Field  3, students 
were  given  an  hour  or  so  with  an  acrobacy  instructor  in  one 
of  our  few  Avros.  The  student  was  put  into  all  sorts  of 
strange  positions  in  the  air  to  test  his  air  sense,  to  give  him 
confidence  in  the  ability  of  a  plane  to  right  itself  when  cer- 
tain definite  rules  were  followed,  and  to  determine  whether 
there  was  anything  radically  wrong  with  his  power  to  over- 
come dizziness  and  keep  his  head  level  under  trying  circum- 
stances. If  the  instructor  found  a  pilot  deficient  at  this  point, 
he  was  sent  over  to  the  hospital  to  consult  the  Medical 
Research  Board.  Advanced  physical  tests  sometimes  showed 
that  the  pilot  was  not  fully  competent  and  should  never 
have  been  passed  for  training  as  an  aviator. 

While  undergoing  their  instruction  in  motors  and  in  the 
work  on  Fields  1,  2,  and  3,  the  pilots  lived  in  the  Main  Bar- 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  141 

racks,  near  the  Guard  House.  After  graduating  successfully 
from  Field  3,  they  were  sent  over  to  Field  9,  several  miles 
to  the  westward,  for  further  instruction.  This  field,  under 
the  careful  oversight  of  Lieutenant  Molthan  and  Captain 
Oliver,  was  equipped  with  18-meter  Nieuports,  that  is,  the 
wings  measured  18  square  meters  in  area.  In  1915  and  1916 
this  machine  had  been  very  popular  at  the  Front.  It  was 
faster  than  the  23-meter,  but  was  less  able  to  glide  slowly 
and  therefore  had  to  be  landed  atahigher  speed  and  required 
more  skilful  handling.  The  general  appearance  was  similar, 
although  the  upper  wings  were  smaller.  The  struts  of  the 
23-meter  have  an  outward  slope,  while  those  of  the  1 8-meter 
are  vertical.  While  the  23-meter  was  far  more  delicate  to 
handle  than  the  JN-4  or  the  Caudron,  the  18-meter  was 
still  more  so.  The  motor  was  the  same  as  that  used  in  the 
2  3 -meter. 

Since  these  ships  were  not  adapted  to  taking  up  passen- 
gers, all  instruction  had  to  be  given  from  the  ground.  It  in- 
cluded lectures,  partly  in  the  nature  of  repetition  in  regard 
to  the  use  of  the  rotary  motor,  partly  in  regard  to  field  re- 
quirements and  traffic  signals,  and  as  to  the  necessity  of  keep- 
ing in  good  physical  condition.  The  work  on  the  flying  field 
was  divided  into  three  parts:  a  landing  class  in  which  the 
student  received  opportunity  to  make  from  ten  to  thirty  land- 
ings; a  spiral  class  in  which  he  made  all  kinds  of  turns,  in- 
cluding what  are  known  as  "tight  spirals"  where  the  wings 
are  practically  at  an  angle  of  90°  for  part  of  the  turn,  and  an 
air  work  class.  The  instructors  watched  the  students  through 


142  AN  EXPLORER 

field-glasses,  and  later  explained  to  them  the  nature  of  their 
mistakes.  If  it  was  found  that  a  student  did  not  readily  ac- 
custom himself  to  the  more  delicate  and  speedier  type  of 
ship,  he  was  advised  to  go  in  for  reconnaissance  or  bombing 
piloting  rather  than  to  continue  the  course  in  pursuit  and 
combat  flying. 

Just  as  certain  athletes  are  more  skilful  as  acrobats  and 
gymnasts  than  others,  so  some  pilots  seem  to  be  better 
adapted  for  the  more  spectacular  though  no  more  useful 
work  of  pursuit  and  combat  Due  to  its  exciting  character, 
we  found  great  difficulty  in  persuading  young  pilots  to  aban- 
don their  ambitions  and  learn  to  be  good  reconnaissance 
pilots.  It  requires  great  skill,  unusual  courage,  and  plenty 
of  gray  matter  to  make  a  good  reconnaissance  pilot,  but  it 
is  not  necessary  that  one  should  be  a  first-class  acrobat.  It 
makes  less  of  an  appeal  to  the  average  boy. 

As  a  result  of  the  air  work  and  spiral  class  on  Field  9, 
the  men  who  showed  less  ability  in  rapid  and  delicate  ma- 
noeuvre as  acrobats  were  taken  out  and  sent  over  to  Field 
10,  which  was  equipped  with  DH-4  planes  and  where  a 
special  course  was  arranged  to  train  pilots  for  observation 
squadrons.  Those  pilots  who  satisfied  their  instructor  of  their 
ability  as  acrobats,  however,  passed  from  Field  9  to  Fields  4, 
5,  and  6,  and  took  up  their  lodgings  at  Field  5. 


Spjeai. 


In    normal    Flidhl- 

fi z 

And     VJ  pi  >-<»H("n  £ 

m -» — «^^f  k — __ 

I 
I 
• 

Cemi'nl   tut   of    «toinAl   *nd 
+  ssum1r»4    norm*,]    glial* 

■& 

V  5-*ng     in4o    cJrde 

v. „ -. 

L«nJing   a>ir«J«  tS  »»%.  m  MiAf 


Norm*!     Aiiae 
uuilk  mm  mofe 


./'ItnXinj  wp  7# 


CHAPTER  XIII 

ADVANCED  TRAINING  FOR  PURSUIT  PILOTS 

IT  is  not  my  intention  in  this  chapter  to  furnish  a  manual 
whereby  a  pilot  can  learn  to  do  stunts  or  become  a  good 
military  aviator.  On  the  contrary,  since  the  science  of  avia- 
tion is  so  very  new  and  the  art  of  flying  has  been  practised 
for  so  few  years  and  aerial  tactics  are  scarcely  more  than 
a  few  months  old,  the  object  of  setting  down  these  details 
is  historical  rather  than  practical.  Many  of  the  pilots  that 
went  through  the  course  will  probably  find  that  at  the  time 
they  went  through  things  were  not  exactly  as  set  down  here. 
I  have  tried  to  portray  the  system  as  it  was  at  the  time  the 
Armistice  was  signed.  A  few  years  from  now,  many  of  these 
manoeuvres  and  formations  will  undoubtedly  seem  very 
crude  and  extraordinary.  The  pilots  who  are  born  this  year 
will  look  upon  us,  who  strove  to  the  best  of  our  ability  to 
give  the  most  advanced  course  of  flying  in  the  world,  as 
foolish  old  idiots.  At  the  same  time,  some  of  them  may  be 
glad  to  see  how  we  did  it,  and  their  fathers  may  be  glad  to 
be  reminded  of  how  it  was  done  in  November,  1918. 

Fields  4,  5,  and  6  were  under  the  very  competent  direc- 
tion of  Captain  St.  Clair  Street,  a  most  conscientious  and 
successful  commander.  These  fields  were  equipped  with  the 
15-meter  Nieuport,  using  the  same  motor  as  the  18-meter 
and  the  23-meter.  While  not  quite  as  small  as  the  Baby 
Nieuport,  it  was  the  smallest  practical  avion  that  the  Nieu- 
port Company  produced,  and  it  was  probably  the  most  dif- 
ficult plane  to  land.  It  was  used  extensively  at  the  Front 


144  AN  EXPLORER 

in  1916,  but  proved  to  be  almost  too  delicate.  Consequently, 
we  believed  that  when  a  student  had  mastered  this  plane, 
he  could  feel  confident  of  his  ability  to  master  readily  any 
other  type  that  might  be  assigned  to  him  at  the  Front  or 
anywhere  else. 

On  Field  5  instruction  was  given  in  taxying,  taking  off, 
and  landing.  Due  to  its  small  wing  spread  and  short  body, 
the  15-meter  Nieuport  lands  very  fast  and  is  difficult  to 
handle  on  the  ground.  The  landing  class  always  offered  a 
good  deal  of  excitement  to  the  spectator  and  caused  much 
trepidation  in  the  hearts  of  newly  arrived  pilots.  It  was  a 
long  cry  from  a  JN-4  to  a  15-meter  Nieuport.  With  a  JN-4, 
to  level  off  too  far  from  the  ground  meant  usually  a  disagree- 
able pancake  and  something  of  a  shock;  to  level  off  a  15- 
meter  Nieuport  too  far  from  the  ground  meant  a  crashed 
plane  and  a  chance  of  serious  physical  injury.  Field  5  was 
also  used  to  give  the  students  experience  in  landing  near  a 
designated  mark  and  plenty  of  facility  in  getting  familiar 
with  straight  flying  on  this  delicate  little  plane. 

While  living  at  Field  5  the  pilots  did  spirals  and  acro- 
bacy  on  Fields  4  and  6,  where,  it  was  necessary  for  them 
to  perfect  their  ability  to  make  both  right-  and  left-hand 
turns,  to  learn  to  locate  other  planes  in  the  air  during  flight 
and  report  the  number  of  planes  that  they  had  seen,  to  exe- 
cute the  dreaded  tail  spin  and  learn  how  to  come  out  of  it 
safely,  to  make  tight  spirals,  half  rolls,  and  side-slips— in 
a  word,  to  show  their  nerve,  willingness,  and  ability  to  do 
exactly  as  told  and  to  follow  instructions  without  fail. 


Vrille  or  Spin 


In    normal     WieM 


Norma)    dlide 

fit^- 

heJ. 2. 


Motor     ttjroftled  -  nose 
pulled    op   fo    sWl  . 


ViQhr  roddt 


toll 


■Jtick  pulled 
?r«4ire(o  back 
into   ri6nt 


corner* 


ipi  nni  ng 


Rodder   neutral 
Stick,  placed   in  neutral 
and    slouiivi   pusked 
foraiard. .   Plane 
gains    fluing 
speed.  . 


/'    SUck   pulled    back,    to 
■w/*       normal   glidmo    posnion. 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  145 

In  the  air  work  class  on  Field  4  the  student  was  instructed 
how  to  make  spiral  turns  at  a  bank  of  approximately  65°. 
He  was  expected  to  make  continuous  figure  8's  at  an  eleva- 
tion of  one  thousand  meters  or  more.  The  object  of  this  was 
to  familiarize  him  with  the  new  ship  and  enable  him  to  make 
his  turns  correctly.  In  the  right-hand  turn  the  torque  of  the 
rotary  motor  has  a  tendency  to  pull  the  nose  down,  while  in 
the  left-hand  turn  this  tendency  is  reversed.  Consequently, 
he  was  instructed  to  use  very  little  rudder  in  making  a  right 
turn  but  to  go  into  the  turn  by  banking  the  plane  over  slowly. 
When  the  desired  amount  of  bank  is  reached,  the  stick  is 
pushed  back  sufficiently  to  keep  the  plane  from  side-slip- 
ping, while  the  rudder  is  used  to  hold  the  nose  up.  With 
the  left  turn,  on  the  contrary,  the  rudder  is  used  to  keep  the 
nose  down.  Great  care  had  to  be  used  to  do  smooth  figure 
8's  with  this  type  of  plane  without  getting  into  a  vrilleor  spin. 

One  of  the  most  important  things  that  a  pilot  had  to  learn 
was  how  to  get  out  of  a  spin.  In  order  that  he  might  have  suf- 
ficient experience  in  doing  this,  and  to  make  it  safe  for  him 
to  run  the  risks  of  getting  into  a  spin  while  executing  some 
other  manoeuvre,  it  was  necessary  to  teach  him  first  how  to 
get  into  a  spin  at  will.  Instruction  as  to  how  to  use  the  con- 
trols so  as  to  secure  these  results  was  given  by  an  instructor 
in  an  airplane  on  the  ground.  The  student  was  then  expected 
to  go  through  the  same  performance  smoothly  and  accu- 
rately until  he  had  satisfied  the  instructor  that  he  thoroughly 
understood  exactly  what  action  of  the  controls  would  produce 
with  speed  and  certainty  a  spin  and  what  action  would  bring 


146  AN  EXPLORER 

him  out  again.  He  was  then  told  to  take  his  plane  up  to  an  al- 
titude of  nearly  five  thousand  feet  before  beginning  anything. 

The  spin  or  vrille  was  executed  by  throttling  down  the 
motor,  holding  up  the  nose  of  the  plane  until  its  flying  speed 
was  almost  lost,  then  kicking  the  right  rudder  violently  over 
and  pulling  the  stick  sharply  back  and  to  the  right.  This 
caused  the  plane  to  fall  immediately  into  a  vrille  or  "spinning 
nose  dive."  In  order  to  come  out  of  the  spin,  the  rudder  is  at 
first  placed  exactly  in  neutral,  then  the  stick  is  brought  into 
the  neutral  position  and  pushed  slowly  forward.  This  causes 
the  plane  to  stop  spinning  and  start  a  straight  nose  dive.  After 
flying  speed  has  been  attained  by  the  nose  dive,  the  plane 
is  gradually  pulled  up  to  a  level  flying  position  and  the 
throttle  opened. 

The  chief  danger  is  that  the  student  in  his  excitement 
will  over-control  and  send  the  plane  into  a  reverse  spin  or 
else  will  push  the  stick  too  far  forward  and  turn  a  somer- 
sault, coming  out  of  the  spin  on  his  back.  Consequently,  it 
was  very  important  to  see  that  the  student  went  up  high 
enough  so  that  he  had  plenty  of  room  to  come  out  of  any 
queer  positions  into  which  he  might  get  before  falling  too 
close  to  the  ground. 

Personally,  I  should  have  been  extremely  glad  to  have 
been  able  to  avoid  the  risks  due  to  the  necessity  for  teach- 
ing pilots  aerial  acrobacy  in  single  seater  machines,  by  using 
more  Avros  and  perfecting  the  student's  acrobacy  in  that 
extremely  manoeuvreable  dual  control  machine,  but  we  had 
to  use  the  planes  that  we  could  buy  in  France.  Shortly  after 


Vertical  Virage 


1'om    *Wov«   . 


b&nied 


?  y 

Ana     oonfrojj 


04tikin 


t  °r 


KM 


Comi'nj  out- 


l^.tc>rrjin«     4* 
nmrm*\    -fl  Teht 


iii-i. 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  147 

the  Armistice  was  signed,  we  began  receiving  from  England 
Avros  we  ought  to  have  had  months  before.  In  order  to  al- 
low for  a  greatly  enlarged  programme,  an  excellent  field  was 
prepared  and  named  Field  12,  and  M'as  devoted  entirely  to 
Avro  work  under  the  direction  of  Lieutenant  Raymond  A. 
Watkins.  The  system  known  as  the  Gosport  System,  de- 
veloped by  Colonel  Smith  Barry  and  based  on  sound  flying 
principles,  was  to  have  been  used  on  this  field  in  the  work  of 
transforming  pilots  from  the  training  they  had  received  on 
JN-4's,  Caudrons,  and  Farnams.  Unfortunately,  due  to  our 
inability  to  secure  enough  Avros  and  our  determination  to 
use  to  the  limit  every  plane  we  could  secure  from  the  Supply 
Department  in  Paris,  we  were  unable  to  take  advantage  of 
our  belief  in  the  effectiveness  of  the  Gosport  System. 

We  all  without  exception  would  have  preferred  to  have 
Avros  for  the  larger  part  of  our  training.  In  this  matter  we 
were  in  entire  agreement  with  the  opinion  of  Colonel  (later 
Brigadier-General)  Lee,  of  the  R.F.C.,  who  told  us  in  Wash- 
ington in  December,  1917,  that  the  Avro  was  the  best  train- 
ing plane  that  Great  Britain  had  developed  during  the  war. 
To  show  us  what  it  was  like,  he  had  one  sent  over  from 
England  and  gave  frequent  flights  in  Washington  that 
winter.  Yet  some  of  our  more  experienced  pilots  were  loth  to 
admit  the  necessity  of  adopting  a  British  training  plane,  and 
we  never  secured  the  full  advantage  of  this  information  so 
generously  given  us  by  the  British  Aviation  Liaison  Officer. 

In  the  class  in  spirals  on  Field  4,  students  were  sent  to 
an  altitude  of  about  four  thousand  feet  and  required  to  make 


148  AN  EXPLORER 

four  good  tight  spirals  to  the  left  and  one  to  the  right  with 
a  dead  motor  and  land  inside  of  a  circle  seventy-five  yards 
in  diameter.  The  spirals  were  supposed  to  be  completed  at 
an  elevation  of  about  two  thousand  feet,  and  pilots  were 
instructed  to  S  down  into  the  field  from  that  altitude.  To 
execute  this  manoeuvre  properly,  the  engine  is  throttled 
down  and  a  normal  glide  assumed,  then  the  plane  is  slowly 
banked  over  to  an  angle  of  about  70°.  After  passing  the 
45°  point  the  controls  become  reversed,  the  stick,  acting 
on  the  elevators  which  now  become  rudders,  is  pulled  back 
until  it  is  tight  against  the  seat.  The  rudder  is  used  as  an  ele- 
vator to  hold  the  nose  of  the  plane  at  such  an  angle  as  will 
insure  sufficient  speed  without  stalling  and  on  the  other  hand 
without  descending  too  fast.  When  S-ing  into  the  field 
after  completing  the  spirals,  it  was  necessary  to  use  a  fast 
glide  in  order  not  to  stall  the  plane  on  the  sharp  turns. 

After  satisfying  the  instructor  of  his  ability  to  do  tight 
spirals,  the  pilot  was  next  taught  to  do  vertical  banks  or 
virages,  beginning  at  an  elevation  of  about  five  thousand 
feet.  The  movements  of  the  controls  in  this  manoeuvre  are 
the  same  as  those  in  tight  spirals,  except  that  the  plane  is 
banked  over  to  90°  and  the  speed  is  increased  to  a  point 
where  dizziness  is  brought  on  very  rapidly. 

After  this  the  pilot  learned  the  renversement,  the  quick- 
est method  of  doing  an  aerial  "about-face."  This  manoeuvre 
is  performed  by  first  pulling  smartly  on  the  stick  and  then 
turning  the  plane  over  on  its  back  with  a  sharp,  quick  kick 
on  the  right  rudder,  at  the  same  time  throttling  the  motor. 


fENVERJEMENT 

Jhot^.ng    f>0i;r,ona     j 
f'**e    in    maneuver  . 


.#=dSh--x 


13 


No   4. 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  149 

Just  as  the  plane  comes  over  on  its  back,  the  rudder  is  kicked 
sharply  back  into  a  neutral  position  and  the  stick  pulled 
back  into  the  seat,  which  causes  the  plane  to  come  out  into 
a  normal  glide. 

The  course  of  instruction  at  Field  5  was  completed  by 
learning  what  are  known  as  "wing  slips."  When  once  in  a 
wing  slip,  the  plane  falls  very  rapidly  sideways  and  is  con- 
trolled by  a  slight  pressure  on  the  stick  and  rudder.  To  get 
it  into  the  wing  slip,  our  pilots  were  taught  to  bank  the 
plane  over  slowly,  reducing  the  motor  gradually  and  putting 
on  reverse  rudder  so  as  to  prevent  the  plane  from  diving, 
and  at  the  same  time  pushing  the  stick  slightly  forward  in 
order  to  overcome  any  tendency  to  spiral.  To  come  out  of 
the  wing  slip,  it  is  necessary  to  push  the  rudder  down  so 
as  to  cause  the  plane  to  dive,  and  pull  in  the  stick  as  though 
coming  out  of  a  spiral. 

To  follow  all  these  instructions  in  detail  in  the  small 
single  seater  Nieuport  when  they  knew  that  some  of  their 
friends  had  already  been  killed  in  attempting  to  execute 
these  manoeuvres,  involved  an  amount  of  courage  that  is 
not  understood  by  the  average  soldier  on  the  ground.  At 
the  same  time  it  was  absolutely  necessary  for  the  flyer  who 
wished  to  become  a  good  pursuit  pilot  to  do  exactly  as  he 
was  told  and  carry  out  his  instructions  to  the  letter. 

The  pilot  who  was  able  to  master  these  various  evolu- 
tions, quickly  and  safely,  had  nothing  to  fear  from  the 
air.  The  pilot  who  could  not  do  it,  but  who  had  kept  his 
inability  from  the  knowledge  of  his  previous  instructors, 


150  AN  EXPLORER 

was  likely  to  meet  with  very  serious  and  often  fatal  conse- 
quences. It  was  better  for  the  Service  that  these  fatal  con- 
sequences should  not  happen  in  the  course  of  combat  at 
the  Front ;  but  it  was  very  hard  on  the  morale  of  the  stu- 
dents that  these  fatalities  overtook  their  friends  on  the  flying 
field.  One  of  the  instructors  in  acrobacy — a  remarkable 
pilot  and  the  most  painstaking  and  successful  of  teachers  — 
told  me  it  had  been  his  painful  duty  to  help  remove  eight 
bodies  out  of  crashed  planes  on  the  acrobacy  field  alone. 

With  the  perfection  of  modern  methods  of  physical 
examination  for  aviators,  it  ought  to  be  possible  to  prevent 
most  accidents  of  this  kind  by  taking  poor  pilots  off  the 
flying  list  before  they  reach  this  point  In  many  cases,  how- 
ever, the  young  pilot  is  too  proud  to  admit  that  he  is  not 
physically  fit  to  do  this  type  of  aerial  acrobacy,  and  labors 
under  a  mistaken  idea  that  by  sheer  will  power  he  can  pro- 
vide what  is  lacking. 

A  considerable  amount  of  weeding  out  occurred  at  Field 
5,  and  every  effort  was  made  to  prevent  students  from  con- 
tinuing in  their  combat  training  if  they  gave  evidence  of 
physical  or  mental  inability  to  meet  its  requirements.  Those 
who  passed  successfully  went  on  to  Field  7,  which  was  fur- 
nished with  the  same  type  of  plane  equipped  with  larger 
and  more  powerful  engines.  Here  the  1 20  H.P.  Le  Rhone 
took  the  place  of  the  80  H.P.  This  field,  under  the  able 
direction  of  Captain  (later  Major)  R.  S.  Davis,  was  one  of 
our  very  best  fields.  It  was  the  only  field  that  succeeded  in 
developing  a  band  of  its  own — a  band,  by  the  way,  that 


Whig   5up 


f!;*V 


ftermal      fll^M 


Yer  hco.1 

v/4«rfinc   ilip     Lu      > 

■otsjhing    <4icL    f«r- 

rudder    And     TnroT- 
fltng    motor 


.<•': 


pp'"§ 


IroppinO   nose 
\><i    giving  doeci 
ruJstr 


CenlroU    pUceJ   In   nor- 
mal   fl^inj     position  . 


Motor    op«ne<J 


No.  5 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  151 

made  excellent  music,  and  greatly  helped  the  men  at  Field 
7  to  be  keen  about  their  own  organization.  Both  Fields  5 
and  7  maintained  very  high  morale  among  their  officers  and 
enlisted  men.  They  took  excellent  care  of  their  students, 
and  endeavored  to  keep  up  their  interest  as  they  went 
along.  When  the  weather  prevented  regular  flying  hours, 
every  effort  was  made  to  encourage  indoor  baseball,  hand- 
ball, and  boxing. 

In  addition  to  becoming  familiar  with  a  more  power- 
ful motor,  the  principal  instruction  at  Field  7  consisted  of 
practice  in  formation  flying  and  the  tactics  of  patrols,  both 
offensive  and  defensive.  Beginning  with  the  simplest  kind 
of  formations,  the  pilot  was  gradually  made  familiar  with  the 
latest  forms  of  aerial  tactics  as  fast  as  they  were  brought 
back  from  the  Front  We  were  helped  by  aviators  who  had 
engaged  in  actual  combat  with  the  enemy,  and  who  had 
learned  all  that  both  friends  and  foes  had  to  teach,  in  those 
famous  battles  in  the  air  that  formed  the  most  spectacular 
part  of  the  modern  battlefield. 

It  was  early  borne  in  upon  us  that  the  aviator  who  was 
a  grandstand  player  did  not  last  long  against  an  enemy  for- 
mation. The  successful  pursuit  pilot  must  curb  his  individ- 
ual daring  and  his  love  of  taking  a  sporting  chance.  Team 
play,  cooperation,  and  the  weight  of  numbers  were  all  essen- 
tial. As  the  war  went  on,  fighting  in  the  air  became  more  and 
more  a  matter  of  maintaining  successful  formations  intact 
under  all  circumstances.  It  will  thus  be  seen  that  formation 
flying  was  one  of  our  most  important  subjects  and  one  that 


152  AN  EXPLORER 

required  skilful  teaching  and  the  closest  application  of  all 

students. 

It  generally  took  about  half  an  hour  for  the  pilot  to  accus- 
tom himself  to  the  new  plane.  Then  he  was  given  four  hours' 
work  in  a  small  group  of  three  or  four  to  become  familiar 
with  the  requirements  of  keeping  his  place  in  formation 
under  all  sorts  of  conditions.  Then  four  hours  in  flying  in 
a  larger  group,  followed  by  four  hours  of  work  involving 
offensive  and  defensive  tactics,  and  two  hours  of  patrol  at 
an  altitude  of  about  15,000  feet 

There  are  several  methods  used  in  forming  a  patrol. 
Where  there  is  a  very  large  field,  the  patrol  can  be  formed 
on  the  ground  and  the  take  off  can  be  made  in  the  desired 
formation.  At  the  Front,  however,  many  of  the  airdromes 
were  small,  and  few  of  them  large  enough  or  good  enough 
to  make  this  feasible.  Consequently,  the  desired  formation 
was  usually  achieved  in  the  air  by  one  of  two  or  three 
methods.  The  method  generally  followed  at  Field  7  was  for 
the  leader,  before  taking  off,  to  acquaint  each  member  of  his 
formation  with  the  following  facts :  the  place  over  which 
planes  would  rendezvous ;  the  altitude  at  which  the  patrol 
would  form,  generally  about  1500  feet  or  high  enough  to 
prevent  serious  accidents,  but  not  so  high  as  to  waste  time 
or  make  it  difficult  for  members  of  the  patrol  to  find  one 
another ;  the  general  direction  which  the  leader  would  take 
after  the  formation  was  made ;  the  probable  route  which  he 
intended  to  follow ;  the  way  in  which  his  plane  was  marked, 
usually  by  a  streamer  placed  on  right  or  left  wing,  depend- 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  153 

ing  upon  whether  the  pilots  were  to  use  right  or  left  turns 
while  forming  the  patrol.  Patrols  were  formed  as  nearly  over 
the  hangars  of  Field  7  as  possible,  in  order  that  the  in- 
structors might  the  more  readily  note  which  pilots  failed 
to  get  into  formation  quickly  and  observe  the  cause  of  their 
mistakes. 

After  each  pilot  of  the  patrol  had  received  his  instructions, 
he  took  off  as  soon  as  possiblewithout  delaying  or  interfering 
with  the  others,  got  his  altitude,  and  proceeded  to  the  des- 
ignated rendezvous.  As  soon  as  he  arrived  at  this  place, 
always  maintaining  the  proper  altitude,  he  began  to  make 
circles  in  the  specified  direction.  The  leader  was  instructed 
to  wait  for  all  of  the  patrol  to  form  before  starting  out  As 
soon  as  he  saw  that  all  were  there,  he  gave  the  signal  of 
"attention"  by  rocking  his  plane  from  side  to  side. 

In  directing  the  manoeuvres  of  aerial  patrols  in  the  future, 
we  may  expect  that  the  use  of  the  wireless  telephone  will 
materially  change  many  of  the  tactics  which  were  common 
at  Issoudun  in  November,  1918.  At  the  same  time  it  is  well 
to  remember  that  the  enemy  by  powerful  counter  wireless 
can  render  the  successful  operation  of  such  means  of  com- 
munication extremely  difficult  and  perhaps  impossible. 

The  leader  was  instructed  to  keep  a  straight  course  until 
the  formation  was  in  good  order  behind  him,  to  make  it  as 
comfortable  as  possible  for  all  the  members  of  the  forma- 
tion, and  to  govern  his  own  speed  by  that  of  the  slowest 
plane  in  the  patrol.  Our  pilots  frequently  had  trouble  in 
learning  to  join  their  formations  without  taking  too  much 


154  AN  EXPLORER 

time  and  without  getting  lost.  The  most  common  fault  was 
making  the  turns  too  wide.  The  pilots  who  arrived  at  the 
rendezvous  first  would  grow  tired  of  waiting,  and  would 
tend  to  form  wider  and  wider  circles  over  a  large  area, 
which  made  it  difficult  for  the  leader  to  get  them  together 
quickly.  Another  trouble  was  the  tendency  to  keep  climbing 
unconsciously  to  a  higher  elevation  than  that  designated  as 
the  level  of  the  first  formation.  Equipped  with  a  more  power- 
ful motor  than  he  had  used  before,  and  engaged  in  trying 
to  see  which  of  the  hundred  or  more  planes  which  might 
be  in  the  air  at  that  time  belonged  to  his  formation,  it  was 
very  easy  for  the  inexperienced  pilot  to  keep  climbing  unless 
he  frequently  referred  to  his  barometer. 

Another  difficulty  was  that  of  forming  in  a  strong  breeze, 
when  the  planes  tend  to  make  elongated  curves  unless  the 
pilots  take  particular  pains  to  make  sharp  turns  when  flying 
with  the  wind.  In  the  face  of  these  and  kindred  difficulties 
the  best  pilots  soon  came  to  the  fore.  As  for  the  others  it 
was  often  necessary  to  signal  to  the  leader  from  the  ground 
to  start  his  patrol  without  waiting  for  those  who  were  "lost, 
strayed,  or  stolen." 

Pilots  in  formations  for  instructional  purposes  were  num- 
bered as  follows: 

Leader  No.  1, 

First  pilot  on  the  left,  No.  2,  1 

First  pilot  on  the  right,  No.  3,  2        3 

Second  on  the  left,  No.  4,  4  5 

and  so  on. 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  155 

In  general,  No.  2  was  instructed  to  fly  50  meters  above  and 
behind  No.  1,  and  at  an  angle  of  45°  to  his  left ;  No.  3  the 
same  distance  above  and  behind  No.  1  and  at  an  angle  of 
45°  to  his  right ;  No.  4  and  No.  5  took  positions  relatively 
similar  to  the  left  and  right  respectively  of  No.  2  and  No.  3. 
Thus  each  member  of  the  formation  was  50  meters  behind 
and  above  the  pilot  immediately  in  front  of  him  and  at 
a  constant  angle  of  45°  from  him,  no  matter  how  many 
planes  comprised  the  patrol.  If  at  any  time  during  the  patrol 
the  leader  was  obliged  to  drop  out,  No.  3  took  his  place. 

The  last  man  on  the  left  was  the  "rescue  man."  It  was 
his  duty  to  watch  any  machine  that  fell  out  of  formation  and 
follow  it  down,  but  he  did  not  land  except  in  case  of  emer- 
gency. If  everything  was  found  to  be  satisfactory  and  the 
pilot  whom  he  had  followed  down  did  not  need  assistance, 
the  rescue  man  was  instructed  to  ascend  again  and  rejoin 
the  formation,  which  he  was  supposed  to  find  circling  over- 
head. If  the  pilot  whom  he  had  followed  had  crashed  and 
appeared  to  need  assistance,  it  was  the  duty  of  the  rescue 
man  to  land  and  render  all  possible  aid.  On  observing  this, 
the  remainder  of  the  formation  was  instructed  to  return  to 
Field  7  and  report. 

The  course  in  formation  flying  was  graded.  At  first,  in 
making  simple  turns,  the  leader  was  directed  to  give  no 
signal,  but  to  start  gradually,  at  the  same  time  speeding  up 
his  engine  in  order  to  assist  pilots  on  the  inside  of  the  turn 
to  execute  the  manoeuvre  without  stalling  or  losing  flying 
speed.  Pilots  on  the  inside  were  told  to  throttle  down  as  fast 


156  AN  EXPLORER 

as  possible  and  cut  in  slightly  toward  the  leader  in  order  to 
avoid  being  obliged  to  make  too  sharp  a  turn.  They  had  to 
be  careful  not  to  approach  too  close  to  the  arc  described  by 
the  leader  in  order  to  avoid  getting  into  the  wash  of  his  pro- 
peller. Pilots  on  the  outside  of  the  turn  had  to  speed  up  their 
engines  in  order  to  negotiate  the  turn  as  fast  as  possible  and 
at  the  same  time  maintain  their  positions.  When  the  leader 
desired  to  change  the  altitude  at  which  the  patrol  was  fly- 
ing, he  did  so  slowly  and  deliberately,  particularly  in  the 
early  part  of  the  training.  He  tried  to  avoid  any  tendency  to 
run  away  from  his  formation.  He  had  to  keep  track  of  the 
members  of  the  patrol,  and  if  necessary  slacken  speed  in 
order  to  permit  stragglers  to  catch  up. 

After  our  students  had  advanced  far  enough  to  be  ad- 
judged competent  to  gauge  distances  and  to  fly  simple  for- 
mations correctly  with  easy  turns,  they  next  undertook  to 
learn  various  offensive  manoeuvres  in  which  they  were 
obliged  to  execute  sharp  turns,  at  the  same  time  always  re- 
taining their  position  in  the  formation  in  order  to  keep  the 
patrol  well  knit  together  as  a  unit  ready  for  offence  or  defence. 
In  making  these  fast,  sharp  turns,  all  pilots  were  instructed 
to  keep  their  position  even  though  those  on  the  inside  were 
obliged  to  slow  down  almost  to  the  point  of  stalling.  Until  the 
pilot  could  fly  by  instinct  he  was  very  likely  to  stall  and  fall 
into  a  spin  while  attempting  to  make  the  sharp  inside  turns 
of  the  advanced  patrol  manoeuvres.  Here,  however,  the  con- 
fidence which  he  had  obtained  in  passing  through  the  ad- 
vanced work  in  acrobatic  flying  at  Field  5  came  to  his  as- 


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IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  157 

sistance  and  gave  him  that  assurance  which  was  necessary 
in  order  to  have  him  learn  aerial  tactics. 

The  "cross-over"  or  90°  turn  was  considered  advanta- 
geous for  small  patrols  of  three  machines.  In  this  manoeuvre 
each  plane  turns  individually  in  its  own  place ;  the  inside  pilot 
climbing  on  the  turn  and  the  outside  pilot  diving  slowly  to 
avoid  danger  of  collision.  Machines  No.  2  and  No.  3  cross  so 
that  each  has  approximately  the  same  distance  to  cover. 
Instead  of  one  getting  ahead  of  the  other,  the  formation  re- 
mains the  same.  It  has  the  advantage  of  enabling  a  right  turn 
to  be  made  quickly  and  at  uniform  speed. 

Later  on,  in  order  to  teach  the  pilots  to  fly  in  formation, 
automatically,  without  having  to  devote  conscious  attention 
to  the  coordination  of  eye  and  hand,  the  patrol  leaders  were 
sent  out  with  particular  orders  to  execute  steep  and  unex- 
pected dives  and  climbs,  violent  change  of  speed,  and  "archie 
dodging." 

The  Taylor  stunt  or  right-about-face  necessitated  pre- 
arranged signals.  The  leader  did  a  renversement  or  half  roll 
while  the  other  members  of  the  formation  did  sharp  right 
or  left  turns  depending  on  their  respective  places.  This  ma- 
noeuvre was  considered  excellent  practice  in  getting  together 
rapidly  and  without  loss  of  altitude. 

The  importance  of  constandy  increasing  the  size  of  the 
unit  was  recognized  and  patrols  of  fifteen  or  more  planes 
were  occasionally  attempted.  It  is  well  known  that  group 
flights  of  this  nature  were  extensively  used  by  the  enemy 
during  the  summer  of  1918.  So  thoroughly  did  the  Ger- 


158  AN  EXPLORER 

mans  appreciate  the  value  of  preponderance  of  numbers 
in  aerial  fighting  that  they  built  more  hangars  than  were 
actually  necessary  for  the  number  of  planes  in  commission 
at  a  given  time.  This  enabled  them  to  concentrate  a  large 
number  of  machines  at  a  given  point  within  a  very  few 
hours  and  without  the  necessity  of  waiting  for  the  removal 
of  hangars  and  machine  shops.  A  large  group  of  hangars 
empty  yesterday,  occupied  to-day,  could  thus  serve  as  a 
base  for  very  large  formations  early  to-morrow  morning. 

Our  large  groups  generally  consisted  of  an  agglomera- 
tion of  units  of  five  planes  each,  the  different  units  formed 
in  different  locations  at  slightly  different  altitudes ;  the  lead- 
ing unit  forming  at  the  lowest  altitude  and  the  unit  which 
was  to  be  the  last  in  the  group  formation  at  the  highest  al- 
titude. The  disadvantage  of  attempting  the  use  of  very  large 
groups  is  the  possibility  of  one  poor  pilot  being  able  through 
his  eccentric  flying  to  break  up  the  entire  formation.  This 
only  emphasizes  the  great  need  for  careful  and  thorough 
instruction  and  the  futility  of  trying  to  rush  pilots  to  the 
Front  without  their  having  acquired  complete  mastery  of 
the  art  A  man  can  be  taught  to  fly  in  a  few  days  of  good 
weather,  but  it  is  a  matter  of  months  before  he  becomes 
sufficiently  skilful  in  the  art  to  make  certain  that  he  will 
not  break  up  a  large  group  formation  by  erratic  flying,  poor 
judgment,  or  getting  rattled  through  having  to  give  his 
attention  to  too  many  things  at  once. 

A  defensive  manoeuvre  called  the  "Lufberry  Show"  was 
named  for  a  very  brilliant  ace  from  Wallingford,  Con- 


4  \ 


JL 


/    / 


'     / 
/      / 

»-       »■ 

/ 

/ 


± 


TAYLOR  STUNT 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  159 

necticut,  who  was  killed  at  the  Front.  The  formation  when 
attacked  instinctively  formed  itself  into  a  milling  circle, 
milling  round  and  round  so  that  each  plane  protected  the  rear 
of  the  plane  in  front  and  was  itself  protected  by  the  plane 
behind.  In  order  to  form  this  circle,  the  last  plane  on  the 
designated  side  speeds  up,  flies  opposite  the  leader,  and  starts 
the  circle,  followed  by  the  next  to  the  last  plane  on  that  side 
until  the  leader  is  reached,  when  he  is  followed  in  natural 
order  by  the  planes  on  the  other  side  of  the  formation.  As 
soon  as  the  circle  has  been  completed,  the  leader  again  as- 
sumes direction  of  the  formation,  sets  the  pace,  narrows  or 
widens  the  circle,  gains  or  loses  altitude  in  accordance  with 
his  judgment,  and  finally  breaks  the  circle  and  gives  the 
signal  for  reassembling. 

The  importance  of  this  milling  circle  was  dwelt  upon 
with  great  emphasis  by  pilots  who  returned  from  the  Front 
shortly  before  the  Armistice  was  signed.  It  seemed  to  be  the 
most  effective  way  in  which  a  small  formation  could  escape 
successfully  from  the  attack  of  a  larger  group.  The  chief  dan- 
ger lay  in  the  possible  adverse  action  of  the  wind,  which 
might  take  one  deeper  and  deeper  into  enemy  territory 
while  one  was  milling  around,  unless  the  leader  took  pains 
to  elongate  his  curves  toward  home. 

Leaders  of  formations  were  held  responsible  for  having 
the  formation  fly  at  the  designated  altitude,  and  for  observ- 
ing ground  signals,  reporting  the  number  of  planes  seen  in 
the  air,  the  towns  over  which  they  had  taken  their  patrols, 
and  the  fact  that  at  the  end  of  two  hours  in  the  air  the  patrol 


160  AN  EXPLORER 

was  reasonably  near  Field  7  and  not  so  far  away  as  to  be 
obliged  to  make  forced  landings  through  lack  of  gas  and  oil. 
The  members  of  each  formation  were  also  questioned  as 
to  what  they  had  seen  happening  on  the  ground,  as  well  as 
concerning  planes  which  they  had  passed  in  the  air.  A  pilot 
can  hardly  get  too  much  practice  in  formation  flying,  since 
it  forces  him  to  fly  by  the  feel  of  his  plane  rather  than  by 
watching  his  instruments  and  observing  the  action  of  the 
nose  of  his  plane  as  compared  with  the  horizon. 

Captain  Davis  and  his  staff"  of  instructors  at  this  field, 
owing  to  their  conscientious  effort  to  perfect  their  students 
in  the  intricacies  of  securing  the  proper  formation  in  the 
air,  executing  manoeuvres  with  precision,  maintaining  their 
places  in  the  formation,  and  learning  to  judge  distances  ac- 
curately, produced  excellent  results. 

An  interesting  device  for  teaching  pilots  to  judge  distance 
correctly  was  a  dummy  ship  staked  out  on  the  ground  be- 
yond the  line  of  hangars.  Students  were  obliged  to  indicate 
required  distances  from  this  ship  at  various  angles  until 
they  had  acquired  the  ability  to  place  themselves  at  exactly 
the  specified  angle  and  distance  from  the  key  ship. 

It  was  learned  at  the  Front  that  one  of  the  chief  factors 
of  success  in  aerial  fighting  is  the  character  and  ability  of 
the  leader  of  the  patrol.  Unusually  good  eyesight,  quick 
judgment  based  on  experience  and  prudence,  ability  to 
think  quickly  and  correctly  in  the  face  of  great  emergency, 
coolness  and  courage  in  time  of  danger,  and  finally,  a  high 
degree  of  skill  in  carrying  out  his  manoeuvres  so  as  to  facil- 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  161 

itate  the  correct  functioning  of  the  patrol — such  are  the 
qualities  which  make  a  great  flight  commander. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  war  we  heard  a  great  deal  about 
individual  combats  in  the  air.  Fonck,  the  great  French  ace, 
is  said  to  have  won  most  of  his  victories  by  sudden  and 
unexpected  attack  alone  on  a  solitary  adversary,  whom  he 
had  been  able  with  his  extraordinary  vision  to  spot  from 
afar  and  whom  he  had  stalked  as  the  Indian  stalks  the  deer. 
The  Indian  must  get  to  leeward  of  his  quarry  in  order  that 
its  keen  sense  of  smell  may  not  enable  it  to  detect  his  pres- 
ence. The  falconlike  Fonck  must  get  between  his  adver- 
sary and  the  sun  in  order  that  his  quarry  may  be  unable 
to  see  him  and  so  escape  from  that  terrible  diving  attack  in 
which  the  pursuer,  travelling  at  a  rate  of  two  hundred  miles 
or  more  an  hour,  is  upon  him  before  he  is  even  aware  of  his 
presence  in  the  sky.  This  kind  of  aerial  fighting  has  always 
appealed  to  newspaper  readers  and  to  pilots,  but  it  has 
proved  to  be  very  expensive.  Fonck  is  one  of  the  few  who 
survived  this  plan  of  aerial  warfare,  and  it  is  said  he  was 
never  outnumbered  in  a  combat. 

The  average  pilot,  however,  must  owe  his  safety  and  his 
efficiency  as  a  fighter  to  his  ability  to  form  a  perfectly  work- 
ing cog  in  the  machine  of  the  patrol.  It  was  said  that  our 
pilots  who  passed  successfully  at  Field  7  wasted  less  time 
at  the  Front  in  acquiring  the  ability  to  fit  into  squadron 
manoeuvres  and  in  learning  new  tactics  than  the  pilots  of 
any  other  army. 

After  completing  the  work  in  formation  flying  at  Field  7, 


162  AN  EXPLORER 

students  were  sent  to  Field  8  to  learn  aerial  combat.  We 
were  extremely  fortunate  in  having  at  this  field  several 
of  the  very  best  combat  pilots  in  existence.  During  the  sum- 
mer of  1918,  Captain  Robert  Austin,  the  leading  combat 
instructor,  repeatedly  demonstrated  his  ability  to  out-ma- 
noeuvre the  best  British  and  French  aces  that  we  could 
induce  to  visit  the  school.  His  flying  was  without  flaw.  He 
did  not  take  such  risks  as  did  the  British  aces,  and  never 
went  in  for  stunts  near  the  ground  or  any  unnecessary  per- 
formances, but  when  combating  against  an  opponent  he 
showed  an  uncanny  ability  to  out-guess  the  other's  next 
manoeuvre  and  to  keep  his  enemy  always  at  his  mercy. 

The  wonderful  record  that  our  graduates  made  at  the 
Front  and  their  success  in  sending  down  far  more  enemy 
planes  than  they  themselves  lost,  was  due  in  part  to  their 
thorough  training  in  formation  flying,  but  in  very  great  mea- 
sure to  the  confidence  which  came  from  having  engaged 
in  combat  against  Captain  Austin  and  the  members  of  his 
staff. 

It  was  on  Field  8  that  a  pilot  had  an  opportunity  to  use 
every  bit  of  the  flying  ability  which  he  had  acquired  in  all 
his  previous  experience.  Some  of  the  American  trained  pi- 
lots, who  had  flown  too  long  on  the  old  type  of  preliminary 
training  planes,  found  it  difficult  to  accustom  themselves  to 
the  rapidity  of  manoeuvre  demanded  by  the  instructors  at 
this  field.  While  it  was  necessary  that  the  pilot  should  have  a 
good  foundation  in  ordinary  flying  before  coming  here  and 
should  beabletodo  aerial  acrobacy  with  skill  and  confidence, 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  163 

it  was  also  essential  that  he  should  not  have  acquired  any  bad 
habits.  The  good  combat  pilot  must  be  able  to  fly  in  any  di- 
rection and  in  any  attitude  with  supreme  confidence  in  his 
machine  and  in  his  ability  to  put  it  in  any  desired  position. 
He  must  be  extremely  alert.  He  must  have  formed  the  habit 
of  seeing  every  visible  plane  in  the  sky  and  of  knowing  by 
instinct  its  approximate  location  at  any  given  moment.  It 
was  said  that  the  remarkably  long  life  of  Fonck  at  the  Front 
was  due  to  his  constant  inspection  of  every  sector  of  the  air. 
Probably  seventy-five  per  cent  of  the  pilots  shot  down  at  the 
Front  were  the  victims  of  surprise  attacks,  and  had  no  idea 
that  there  was  an  enemy  in  the  immediate  vicinity  until  he 
was  so  close  that  it  was  impossible  to  escape. 

It  was  here  on  Field  8  that  the  aggressive  spirit  of  a 
good  polo  player  or  of  a  first-class  football  player  placed 
him  in  the  front  ranks  of  the  combat  pilots.  The  sluggish 
flyer  is  likely  to  leave  himself  open  to  attack  by  an  aggres- 
sive pilot.  The  active,  energetic,  aggressive  fighter  is  not  only 
more  likely  to  gain  the  advantage  of  offensive  tactics,  but 
will  also  be  more  likely  to  spot  his  enemy  first  and  gain  the 
benefit  of  position.  The  American  boy  is  particularly  good  in 
games  requiring  quick  judgment  and  correct  action.  This 
trait  made  him  excellent  in  meeting  the  rapidly  changing 
conditions  of  aerial  combat.  There  were  no  hard  and  fast  rules 
that  could  be  laid  down  as  to  how  to  win  out  in  a  "dog  fight," 
as  the  rough  and  tumble  aerial  combats  were  called.  "If  a 
Hun  gets  on  your  tail  and  you  see  the  tracers  coming  close, 
you  will  most  likely  do  some  acrobatics  that  you  never  have 


164  AN  EXPLORER 

done  before."  "In  this  work  a  steady  hand,  a  cool  head,  and 
an  all-seeing  eye  are  the  essential  features  of  safety.  Add 
to  them  ability  to  fly  and  skill  in  using  the  machine  gun, 
and  your  results  spell  success."  So  we  were  told  by  pilots 
from  the  Front. 

All  the  planes  used  on  Field  8  were  equipped  with  cam- 
era guns  built  like  a  machine  gun,  but  shooting  pictures 
instead  of  bullets.  The  pictures  register  the  position  of  the 
enemy  at  the  moment  that  the  trigger  is  pulled.  In  this  way 
it  is  possible  for  the  instructor  and  the  student  to  see  what 
would  have  happened  in  actual  combat.  Examination  of 
these  pictures  illustrates  the  tendency  of  one  pilot  to  shoot 
when  still  at  too  great  a  distance  for  effective  work,  of  an- 
other pilot  to  overshoot  the  mark,  and  of  a  third  to  fail  to 
make  sufficient  allowance  for  the  speed  of  the  opposing 
machine. 

In  actual  aerial  gun  fire,  from  six  to  ten  bullets  are  fired 
in  every  burst  or  volley.  This  burst  will  have  a  spread  of 
about  thirty  feet  If  the  gun  is  properly  directed,  the  enemy 
plane  will  pass  through  this  thirty-foot  fan  with  a  good 
chance  of  being  hit  in  some  vital  spot.  The  camera  gun  takes 
but  one  picture  for  a  burst,  but  that  picture  shows  just  what 
portions  of  the  enemy  plane  would  have  come  under  gun 
fire,  since  it  shows  the  direction  in  which  the  plane  was  flying 
and  the  distance  of  the  plane  at  the  time  the  shot  was  fired. 

Any  one  who  has  ever  done  any  target  practice  knows 
the  importance  of  being  able  to  learn  the  exact  results  as 
soon  as  possible  after  firing.  When  the  student  arrives  at 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  165 

the  stage  where  it  is  advisable  for  him  to  use  an  actual 
machine  gun,  he  can  aim  at  a  target  on  a  lake  or  on  sand. 
In  either  case  he  is  able  to  see  at  once,  by  the  splash  of  the 
water  or  the  little  clouds  of  dust,  exactly  where  his  shots 
are  hitting.  The  main  drawback  is  that  he  is  not  firing  at 
a  rapidly  moving  airplane,  but  at  targets  which  under  the 
most  favorable  conditions  are  only  able  to  move  in  an  area 
of  two  dimensions  instead  of  three.  With  the  camera  gun, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  aviator  can  fire  at  an  airplane  which 
is  going  through  all  the  gyrations  of  aerial  combat.  He  then 
can  descend,  have  his  pictures  immediately  developed,  and 
see  the  results  of  his  judgment  and  skill.  Failure  to  allow 
for  deflection,  forgetfulness  of  the  fact  that  both  gun-plat- 
form and  target  are  in  rapid  motion,  over-confidence,  or  the 
reverse,  are  plainly  shown  in  the  permanent  record  of  the 
pictures.  Good  shots  were  just  as  plainly  recorded — and 
more  likely  to  be  preserved  than  the  others ! 

The  first  work  at  Field  8  was  to  train  a  pilot  in  the  use 
of  sights  on  his  gun.  Small  parachutes  were  used.  These 
were  released  at  about  ten  thousand  feet,  care  being  taken 
to  see  that  they  were  not  dropped  over  territory  where  other 
machines  were  flying  in  large  numbers.  The  greatest  dan- 
ger from  a  parachute  is  that  it  will  get  tangled  up  in  the  tail 
of  the  plane.  Consequently,  the  best  method  is  to  release  it 
when  making  a  tight  spiral  or  a  skid  with  the  motor  off.  In 
either  case  the  draught,  being  athwart  the  ship,  will  carry 
the  parachute  away  from  the  tail. 

Shooting  at  the  parachute  was  considered  the  best  way  of 


166  AN  EXPLORER 

beginning,  because  it  involved  less  danger  than  shooting  at 
another  plane.  When  two  pilots  worked  together,  one  acted 
as  a  target  for  the  first  half  of  the  period  and  the  other  for 
the  second  half.  The  quarry  was  ordered  to  fly  steadily  in  a 
given  direction  while  the  other  pilot  practised  shooting  at 
him  from  direcdy  behind,  from  the  sides,  above  and  below, 
so  as  to  secure  practice  at  all  angles  and  be  obliged  to  make 
widely  different  allowances  for  direction  and  speed.  It  was 
advised  that  the  attacker  dive  at  his  target  many  times, 
taking  pictures  only  when  sure  of  his  results.  Furthermore, 
pilots  were  encouraged  to  use  the  full  allowance  of  their  time, 
even  though  something  happened  to  their  target. 

It  was  related  of  Lieutenant  Luke,  whose  short  life  at  the 
Front  was  full  of  an  extraordinary  number  of  victories  over 
the  Hun,  that  he  never  came  in  unless  he  had  to,  and  that 
he  was  constantly  borrowing  some  one  else's  plane — so 
greatly  did  he  appreciate  the  truth  that  practice  makes  per- 
fect. It  was  said  that  his  death  was  due  to  his  fondness  for 
fighting  alone  and  his  dislike  of  formation  flying.  His  record 
is  more  fully  given  elsewhere. 

Practice  in  avoiding  surprise  attack  was  taught  as  fol- 
lows: A  pilot  was  sent  outtopatrol the  road  between  two  towns. 
His  orders  were  to  patrol  his  designated  territory  until  he 
saw  his  adversary  and  then  to  engage  in  combat.  Naturally, 
it  was  the  object  of  the  attacker  to  employ  all  the  rules  for 
successful  attack,  namely,  to  make  use  of  the  sun,  mist,  and 
clouds  so  as  to  approach  without  being  seen  and  to  keep 
between  his  quarry  and  the  sun  when  delivering  the  final 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  167 

shot.  His  object  was  to  be  directly  in  the  area  in  which  the 
quarry  would  have  the  greatest  difficulty  of  seeing  anything. 

As  soon  as  sufficient  practice  had  been  obtained  in  single 
patrols,  groups  were  designated  to  patrol  between  given 
points  and  other  groups  were  told  off  to  attack  them.  The 
instructions  were  that  members  of  the  patrol  should  fly  well 
apart,  avoiding  close  formations,  and  that  each  member  of 
the  formation  should  S  to  and  fro  so  as  to  have  a  clear 
vision  of  the  entire  sky.  The  first  member  of  the  patrol  to 
sight  the  opposing  group  was  directed  to  leave  his  place  in 
the  formation  and  signal  to  the  leader.  When  the  attack 
was  made,  each  member  of  the  patrol  was  directed  to  pick 
out  an  adversary  and  combat  with  him,  taking  care  to  avoid 
collision  with  other  planes.  After  making  one  shot  with  his 
camera  gun,  each  pilot  was  directed  to  attempt  to  withdraw 
as  fast  as  possible  to  one  of  the  boundaries  of  the  patrolled 
area.  The  pursuing  pilot  was  directed  to  cease  pursuit  as 
soon  as  his  adversary  had  reached  this  rendezvous.  The 
escaping  pilot  was  then  directed  to  circle  at  an  agreed  alti- 
tude and  wait  for  the  other  members  of  his  group.  On  their 
arrival  they  formed  again  and  continued  as  before. 

It  was  expected  that  in  this  course  at  Field  8  a  pilot 
should  learn  to  sit  tight  in  his  plane  in  such  a  manner  as  to 
be  able  to  use  his  gun  sights  without  moving  about  in  his 
seat;  to  use  his  sights  quickly  and  accurately,  as  instinc- 
tively as  a  trapshooter  firing  at  clay  pigeons;  to  handle  his 
plane  intuitively  in  all  manoeuvres  and  be  able  to  bring  it  out 
of  any  given  evolution  in  the  desired  position  with  relation 


168  AN  EXPLORER 

to  his  opponent ;  to  keep  his  eye  constantly  on  the  enemy 
and  fly  by  the  "  feel "  of  his  ship ;  to  make  successful  ag- 
gressive attacks  under  various  conditions;  to  manoeuvre 
out  of  a  difficult  position  and  turn  the  tables  on  his  oppo- 
nent ;  to  acquire  a  falconlike  ability  to  see  everything  in  the 
sky  above  and  below ;  and  to  spot  his  quarry  from  afar. 

The  pilot  who  was  able  to  satisfy  Captain  Austin  of  his 
ability  to  do  these  things  had  no  reason  to  fear  that  he  would 
be  out-manoeuvred  by  any  Hun  whom  he  was  likely  to 
meet.  Of  course,  if  through  carelessness  or  misfortune  he 
became  separated  from  his  formation  and  was  attacked  by 
superior  numbers,  his  ability  to  engage  in  successful  combat 
was  of  small  importance  compared  with  the  speed  of  his 
ship  in  getting  home. 

At  the  time  the  Armistice  was  signed,  Captain  (later 
Major)  Harry  L.  Wingate,  who  was  in  charge  of  the  field, 
was  extraordinarily  successful  in  overcoming  the  difficulties 
of  keeping  in  commission  a  large  number  of  the  mono- 
planes and  other  types  of  small  scout  machines  which  were 
in  use  at  this  field,  and  which  received  very  severe  handling 
in  the  course  of  aerial  combat  work.  Constant  inspection  of 
machines  after  they  had  come  in  from  flight,  a  high  morale 
among  the  enlisted  mechanics,  and  a  splendid  determina- 
tion to  overcome  every  obstacle  at  no  matter  what  cost,  en- 
abled Captain  Wingate  to  graduate  from  fifteen  to  twenty 
men  every  flying  day  at  his  field.  Considering  the  type  of 
planes  that  he  had  to  work  with  and  the  severity  of  their 
use,  this  was  a  remarkable  achievement 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  169 

While  still  living  at  Field  8,  the  student  received  instruc- 
tion in  aerial  fire  at  Field  14,  which  was  built  especially  for 
this  purpose.  The  work  consisted  of  shooting  with  Vickers 
Machine  Guns  mounted  on  type  24  Nieuports  and  using 
the  Victor  gear.  The  targets  were  on  the  ground,  and  con- 
sisted of  trenches,  silhouettes,  and  condemned  machines, 
with  shot  screens  so  placed  as  to  register  hits  when  the  shoot- 
ing was  made  with  proper  deflection.  During  the  course  each 
student  fired  from  eight  hundred  to  one  thousand  rounds 
in  the  air,  and  by  being  able  "to  see  the  dust  fly"  attained 
confidence  in  using  his  sights  and  proved  that  he  had  a 
sufficient  knowledge  of  deflection  to  engage  successfully 
in  aerial  combat  at  the  Front.  Diving  at  ground  targets  re- 
quires nerve  and  confidence,  but  proved  not  to  be  as  danger- 
ous as  had  been  supposed.  There  were  no  casualties  at  this 
field.  Captain  George  W.  Eypper,  who  had  entire  charge 
of  the  work  in  Aerial  Gunnery  after  Major  G.  Bonnell  went 
to  the  Front,  carried  on  as  successfully  as  his  predecessor. 


CHAPTER  XIV  , 

N  OBSERVATION   AND   NIGHT   PURSUIT 

TWO  new  problems  arose  in  the  summer  of  1918. 
The  first  was  the  necessity  of  teaching  observation 
pilots  to  fly  DH-4's ;  the  second  was  the  demand  for  pilots 
who  could  undertake  the  dangerous  work  of  night  pursuit. 
When  the  DH-4's  with  the  Liberty  motor  began  to  arrive 
from  the  United  States,  conditions  at  Field  7  were  such  that 
there  seemed  to  be  more  room  there,  and  a  better  chance  of 
successful  operation  without  interference  with  the  regular 
work  of  the  field,  than  at  any  other  point.  In  the  mean  time 
Field  10  was  secured,  and  especially  prepared  to  meet  the 
need  for  a  large  field  devoted  entirely  to  instruction  on  DH-4 
planes.  This  was  the  only  plane  that  was  being  manufac- 
tured in  the  United  States  for  use  at  the  Front  While  not 
at  all  adapted  for  combat  work,  it  was  probably  originally 
intended  as  a  two-seater  fighter.  As  a  matter  of'tfact,  it  was 
used  by  observation  and  bombing  squadrons. 

The  training  of  observers  was  carried  on  at  Tours  at  the 
Second  Aviation  Instruction  Centre.  Here  at  Field  10  we 
attempted  the  instruction  of  observation  pilots,  and  aimed  to 
give  them  some  knowledge  of  what  the  observer  was  trying 
to  do.  There  was  a  ground  course,  planned  to  cover  from  two 
to  five  days,  and  meant  to  give  the  pilot  an  elementary  know- 
ledge of  the  work  carried  on  in  an  observation  squadron. 
It  was  given  by  officers  who  had  seen  service  at  the  Front, 
and  who  were  able  to  impress  the  student  with  the  importance 
of  the  work.  This  was  all  the 'more  necessary  because  the 


o 

a 

a 

b 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  171 

average  pilot,  longing  for  the  excitement  of  pursuit  squad- 
ron activity,  was  inclined  to  look  with  little  favor  on  the 
actual  routine  that  was  before  him.  Lectures  on  the  organi- 
zation of  the  ground  forces,  intended  to  give  familiarity  with 
methods  of  attack  and  defence  used  by  both  artillery  and 
infantry ;  lectures  on  interpretation  of  aerial  photography, 
intended  to  teach  the  pilot  the  value  of  the  photographic 
work  done  on  his  missions ;  and  lectures  on  the  methods  of 
cooperation  with  the  other  branches  of  the  Service  were 
given  from  time  to  time. 

Tactical  and  strategical  reconnaissance ;  a  thorough  ex- 
planation of  the  use  of  the  compass  and  its  importance  in 
cloudy  or  foggy  weather;  explanation  of  the  other  instru- 
ments used  in  aerial  navigation;  interpretation  of  things  seen 
on  the  ground  and  their  respective  importance ;  studies  of 
the  organization  and  actual  experience  of  observation  squad- 
rons ;  the  kind  of  preparation  needed  for  an  artillery  mission ; 
a  pilot's  duties  on  a  photographic  mission ;  the  importance 
of  contact  patrol ;  lectures  on  the  Liberty  motor  and  the  use 
of  the  somewhat  complicated  set  of  instruments  in  front  of 
the  pilot's  seat  in  a  DH-4,  were  given  as  well  as  possible 
under  the  circumstances. 

Due  to  the  pressing  demand  from  the  Front  that  obser- 
vation pilots  be  sent  up  immediately,  and  due  to  the  large 
number  of  crashes  of  the  DH-4's,  flown  by  inexperienced 
pilots,  it  was  felt  that  every  available  minute  of  flying 
weather  should  be  taken  advantage  of,  even  at  the  cost  of 
missing  some  of  the  important  lectures.  This  was  very  dis- 


172  AN  EXPLORER 

couraging  for  the  highly  trained  observers  and  aerial  pho- 
tographers who  were  detailed  to  the  work  of  ground  in- 
struction at  Field  10.  The  demand  from  the  Front,  however, 
was  so  insistent,  and  the  mortality  among  DH-4  pilots  so 
extraordinarily  high,  that  it  was  necessary  to  give  our  stu- 
dents all  the  actual  flying  instruction  possible. 

The  first  part  of  the  course  consisted  of  ninety  minutes 
of  dual  control  work  with  an  instructor,  verified  by  a  practi- 
cal examination  with  a  tester  in  which  the  student  had  to 
demonstrate  his  ability  to  make  forced  landings  and  to  get 
his  plane  out  of  the  various  skids  and  slips  into  which  it 
was  thrown  by  the  tester. 

After  satisfying  the  instructors  of  his  ability  to  use  the 
Liberty  motor  correcdy,  and  to  handle  the  DH-4  satisfac- 
torily, he  was  required  to  make  a  dozen  good  landings  from 
an  elevation  of  about  one  thousand  feet  and  to  practise  sharp 
banks  and  figure  8's  at  an  altitude  of  about  twenty-five  hun- 
dred feet.  This  elementary  air  work,  covering  about  three 
hours,  was  followed  by  practice  in  spirals,  first  loose  spirals, 
later  tight  spirals,  with  the  machine  banked  up  to  90°;  and 
finally  about  four  hours  in  formation  flying.  It  was  not  a  sat- 
isfactory course,  but  it  was  the  best  we  could  do  under  the 
circumstances,  considering  the  imperative  demands  from 
the  Front 

None  of  this  work  in  DH-4's  should  have  been  given  in 
France.  The  pilots  came  from  America,  the  ships  and  motors 
came  from  America,  so  did  the  gas,  oil,  and  spare  parts — 
everything,  in  fact,  that  was  used  at  the  field.  All  this  had 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  173 

to  be  brought  across  an  ocean  infested  with  submarines. 
Better  fields  for  the  work  could  easily  have  been  found  in 
America,  much  nearer  to  the  source  of  supply  of  both  men 
and  machines.  I  suppose  that  for  the  sake  of  encouraging 
our  citizens  the  Administration  thought  it  was  better  to  say 
that  one  hundred  and  fifty  DH-4's  had  been  sent  to  France, 
than  to  say  that  they  had  been  sent  to  an  American  training 
school.  Of  course,  the  public  did  not  know  that  the  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  sent  to  France  for  training  purposes  could 
have  been  used  more  effectively  at  home  and  at  far  less 
expense.  By  sending  them  to  France,  it  added  to  the  total  of 
machines  shipped  overseas — a  total  that  was  never  large 
enough  to  satisfy  American  public  opinion. 

The  difficulties  of  operating  these  heavy  ships  on  a  wet 
French  airdrome  were  enormous.  The  necessity  for  bringing 
over  so  much  material,  including  gas  and  oil,  to  do  what 
should  have  been  done  in  America  was  most  unfortunate. 
It  would  have  saved  time,  money,  and  men,  if  those  DH-4's, 
instead  of  being  sent  to  American  training  schools  in  France, 
had  been  used  for  the  instruction  of  our  personnel  at  home 
and  only  enough  sent  to  the  training  schools  in  France 
for  use  in  a  refresher  course.  At  Issoudun  we  ought  not  to 
have  been  required  to  do  more  than  see  that  a  pilot  already 
trained  on  American  DH-4's  had  a  chance  to  learn  the 
latest  wrinkles  as  taught  by  officers  just  back  from  the 
Front,  before  being  sent  there  himself. 


174  AN  EXPLORER 

Night  Flying  was  practically  unheard  of  before  the  war. 
Gradually  the  use  of  night  bombers  became  practicable,  and 
both  Paris  and  London  were  treated  to  frequent  nocturnal 
visits.  The  answer  to  this  was  the  development  of  night 
pursuit  flying.  It  is  difficult  for  a  pilot  to  imagine  any  greater 
risk  than  being  expected  to  take  up  a  delicate  pursuit  plane  * 
at  night  It  had  to  be  done,  however,  and  Field  7,  with  its 
large  expanse  of  open  country,  offered  the  best  location.  It 
was  regrettable  that  the  necessity  of  night  work  interfered 
to  a  certain  extent  with  the  sleep  and  rest  of  the  men  who  were 
carrying  on  the  regular  duties  of  the  work  in  formation 
flying,  but  this  was  unavoidable.  It  was  one  of  our  greatest 
disappointments  that  the  Armistice  was  signed  just  as  our 
night  pursuit  pilots  were  receiving  the  finishing  touches 
of  their  training  in  cooperation  with  the  Searchlight  Com- 
pany. 

Hunting  the  Hun  in  the  dark  was  a  favorite  sport  of  the 
late  Captain  Armstrong,  of  the  R.  A.  F.,  Commanding  Offi- 
cer of  the  first  British  Night  Pursuit  Squadron  at  the  Front 
He  himself  had  a  record  of  having  brought  down  more 
than  fifty  Hun  machines,  including  the  gigantic  five-engine 
Gotha. 

One  day  I  was  crossing  the  street  from  my  quarters  to 
my  office,  when  the  unaccustomed  sound  produced  by  a 
plane  looping  near  the  ground  called  my  attention  to  the  ex- 
traordinary antics  of  a  Sopwith  Camel.  It  made  loop  after  loop 
over  Headquarters,  missing  the  roofs  of  the  buildings  by  only 
a  few  feet,  finally  coming  so  close  to  the  ground  as  to  cause 


Used  on  Night  Flying:  Sopzvith  Camel 


Nieuport  33,  18-meter,  80  H.P.  Le  Rhone  motor 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  175 

us  all  to  hold  our  breaths  as  the  marvellously  skilful  pilot 
pulled  his  ship  out  of  a  loop  within  a  few  inches  of  the 
ground,  fairly  touching  the  long  grass.  Then  the  machine 
was  pulled  straight  up  into  a  "zoom"  of  unparalleled  mag- 
nitude. It  stalled,  fell  like  a  leaf,  fluttering  from  side  to  side, 
recovered,  made  a  tight  spiral  incredibly  near  the  ground,  lit 
as  gracefully  as  a  butterfly,  and  hardly  rolled  more  than  a 
few  inches.  Then  a  small  dog  bounded  out  of  the  cockpit, 
from  the  pilot's  lap  to  the  ground,  while  the  pilot  himself 
with  a  novel  under  his  arm  and  a  smile  on  his  face  walked 
nonchalantly  across  the  airdrome.  Thus  did  Captain  Arm- 
strong announce  his  arrival. 

One  of  the  greatest  differences  between  the  Royal  Air 
Forces  and  our  own  was  that  they  believed  in  encouraging 
morale  and  stimulating  their  pilots  to  recklessness  by  such 
exhibitions  as  these,  even  though  the  most  skilful  pilots 
occasionally  met  their  death  in  this  fashion.  Captain  Arm- 
strong himself  was  killed  shortly  after  the  Armistice  while 
stunting  too  close  to  a  hangar. 

The  American  Air  Service  held  that  the  advantages  of 
such  recklessness  were  more  than  offset  by  the  increased 
chances  of  losing  valuable  lives.  The  war  did  not  last  long 
enough  for  us  to  determine  which  was  the  proper  method. 
There  is  no  question  but  that  there  was  a  far  higher  morale 
among  the  pilots  in  the  British  squadrons  than  in  our  own. 
This  was  due  to  various  causes.  Furthermore,  I  do  not  be- 
lieve that  the  type  of  pilot  that  was  being  graduated  from 
Issoudun  during  the  summer  and  fall  of  1918  needed  ex- 


176  AN  EXPLORER 

hibitions  of  this  kind  to  make  him  willing  and  ready  to  take 
all  necessary  chances  when  he  went  after  the  Hun. 

Captain  Armstrong  was  the  most  graceful  and  skilful 
flyer  that  I  have  ever  seen.  He  was  not  quite  as  good  in  aerial 
combat  as  our  own  Captain  Austin,  as  was  shown  in  a 
famous  twenty-minute  struggle.  We  were  most  fortunate, 
however,  in  being  able  to  secure  his  services  in  starting  our 
instruction  in  night  pursuit. 

Planes  for  night  pursuit  work  are  equipped  with  naviga- 
tion lights, — one  at  the  end  of  each  wing,  one  on  the  tail, 
and  one  inside  the  cowl, — all  of  which  may  be  turned  on 
or  off  at  the  pleasure  of  the  pilot.  There  is  also  a  signalling 
light  placed  under  the  seat  of  the  ship  for  signalling  to  the 
ground.  This  is  used  to  give  a  code  letter  to  the  operator 
of  the  field  lights,  so  that  when  the  pilot  gets  ready  to  land 
after  circling  the  field,  the  landing  light  is  flashed  on  for  his 
benefit  In  order  to  avoid  accidents  in  the  darkness,  each  ship 
is  given  a  number,  and  is  not  supposed  to  land  except  when 
that  number  appears  in  the  ground  lights  on  the  landing  field. 
In  addition  to  the  signal  lights  on  the  ground,  there  are  two 
powerful  searchlights,  used  as  landing  lights,  placed  along 
the  line  of  direction  of  the  wind.  Planes  leave  them  on  the 
right  when  taking  off  and  landing.  Gradually  the  students 
became  accustomed  to  landing  with  less  and  less  light  and  to 
taking  off"  in  the  darkness  without  any  lights  at  all.  Finally, 
they  acquired  sufficient  skill  to  make  good  landings  with  the 
landing  light  on  for  only  thirty  seconds.  This  practice  was 
essential  because  of  the  necessity  of  having  as  little  light  as 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  177 

possible  showing  on  the  airdrome  at  the  Front  The  position 
of  the  field  is  constantly  shown  by  one  small  red  light  on 
the  ground. 

Half  a  dozen  of  the  most  skilful  pilots  that  we  could  se- 
cure, under  the  able  leadership  of  Captain  R.  Melin,  were 
selected  for  this  training.  They  began  practising  landings 
at  night  in  an  Avro  with  Captain  Armstrong  in  the  instruc- 
tor's seat.  After  being  given  a  sufficient  number  of  landings 
and  flights  to  enable  them  to  get  accustomed  to  night  flying 
in  a  delicate,  highly  manoeu  vreable  plane,  they  kept  on  prac- 
tising until  they  gained  sufficient  confidence  to  fly  on  dark 
nights  without  having  to  worry  about  the  technical  side  of 
the  art  Our  students  were  so  good  that  it  took  only  from 
six  to  ten  flights  with  the  instructor  before  they  were  ready 
to  go  solo  on  the  same  machine.  Then  followed  from  ten  to 
twenty-five  more  landings  on  the  Avro  until  the  pilot  was 
confident  that  he  knew  where  the  ground  was  and  had 
learned  not  to  misjudge  the  few  things  which  are  visible 
even  on  dark  nights.  The  Avro  is  an  ideal  machine  for  this 
purpose. 

After  the  student  had  shown  the  necessary  proficiency 
on  the  Avro,  he  was  sent  up  in  the  Sopwith  Camel,  a  single- 
seater  machine  equipped  with  a  120  H.P.  motor,  the  ma- 
chine preferred  by  Captain  Armstrong  as  being  most  effec- 
tive for  night  pursuit.  In  the  Camel  the  student  practised 
landing  fifteen  or  more  times  until  he  acquired  the  neces- 
sary skill.  In  connection  with  practice  in  landing,  the  stu- 
dents were  sent  up  to  do  the  usual  air  work,  utilizing  from 


178  AN  EXPLORER 

ten  to  twenty-five  flights  in  this  way  in  accordance  with 
their  own  individual  difficulties  in  mastering  the  problem 
of  correctly  going  through  manoeuvres  without  being  able  to 
see  the  horizon.  Thus  the  students  gradually  came  to  be  able 
to  execute  the  same  acrobatics  at  night  as  in  the  daytime. 
During  this  stage,  also,  they  were  given  experience  in  fly- 
ing in  the  searchlight, —  a  very  trying  performance  at  first. 
They  also  had  practice  in  avoiding  it;  and  in  sending  the 
necessary  signals. 

After  the  technique  of  night  flying  in  small  pursuit 
planes  was  mastered  (owing  to  the  scarcity  of  Sopwith 
Camels  we  also  used  the  Nieuport,  type  28),  the  most  in- 
teresting part  of  the  work  began,  namely,  practice  in  attack- 
ing night  bombers.  The  night  bomber  is  picked  up  by 
listening  devices,  his  position  is  given  to  the  searchlight 
operators,  and  the  pursuit  pilot  is  sent  up  to  the  known  ele- 
vation of  the  night  bomber  and  into  his  approximate  loca- 
tion. When  the  pursuit  pilot  has  reached  his  appointed 
position,  he  gives  the  signal  with  one  of  Very's  lights.  Imme- 
diately the  searchlights,  directed  by  the  listening  devices, 
are  turned  on  the  night  bomber,  who  is  then  held  in  the 
powerful  rays.  The  pursuit  plane  comes  up  in  the  blackness 
behind  until  he  is  a  little  below  and  directly  in  the  rear  of 
his  prey,  and  shoots  from  a  distance  of  about  twenty  yards 
and  at  an  angle  of  about  10°  below  the  night  bomber.  He 
has  plenty  of  time  to  fire  deliberately  and  with  care.  Captain 
Armstrong  used  to  say  that  the  results  were  so  satisfactory 
as  to  be  "hardly  sportsmanlike"! 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  179 

As  a  means  of  offsetting  the  successful  use  of  the  large 
night  bombing  planes  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  night  pur- 
suit squadrons  were  eminently  satisfactory.  In  fact,  it  was 
expected  that  the  enemy  would  soon  have  copied  this  de- 
velopment to  an  extent  which  would  have  made  the  use  of 
the  great  Handley  Page  night  bomber  extremely  precari- 
ous. The  inability  of  a  huge,  heavily  weighted,  bombing 
plane  to  manoeuvre  with  sufficient  rapidity  to  dodge  the 
agile  scout  was  sure  to  be  his  undoing,  particularly  as  there 
would  be  no  friendly  searchlights  in  the  enemy  country  to 
enable  him  to  see  the  scout  and  open  fire  on  his  assailant 
The  answer  would  be  to  place  searchlights  on  the  bombing 
plane  itself,  although  that  would  make  it  an  easier  mark. 

It  was  a  bitter  disappointment  to  Captain  Melin  and 
his  group  of  excellent  pilots  that  the  Armistice  was  signed 
in  the  very  week  that  they  were  perfecting  their  ability  to 
cooperate  with  the  searchlight  companies.  After  they  had 
secured  the  necessary  experience  at  the  Front,  they  would 
have  been  used  as  instructors  to  develop  future  night  pur- 
suit squadrons. 


CHAPTER  XV 

THE  "PLANE    NEWS" 

OUR  weekly  paper,  of  which  we  were  very  proud,  and 
on  which  we  depended  for  all  sorts  of  inspiration, 
both  serious  and  humorous,  was  called  the  Plane  News. 
Started  under  the  auspices  of  Colonel  Kilner  in  November, 
1917,  and  printed  by  hand  on  an  ancient  mimeograph,  it 
laid  claim  to  being  the  first  newspaper  of  the  American  Ex- 
peditionary Forces  that  was  entirely  edited  and  printed  by 
soldiers.  Seeing  the  advantages  of  being  able  to  brighten  a 
despondent  community  by  this  weekly  budget  of  news  and 
good  cheer,  Miss  Givenwilson,  then  Directrice  of  the  Red 
Cross  Activities  at  Issoudun,  secured  the  funds  wherewith 
a  real  press  and  printing-office  were  established  in  camp. 
During  1918,  this  little  paper  steadily  grew  in  influence 
and  importance,  although  from  time  to  time  its  personnel 
had  to  be  changed,  owing  to  the  exigencies  of  military 
service.  By  the  middle  of  the  year  it  had  become  recog- 
nized as  the  official  organ  of  the  American  Air  Service  in 
France. 

Shordy  after  my  arrival,  Lieutenant  H.  M.  Ogg,  who 
had  been  acting  as  officer  in  charge  of  the  Plane  News,  was 
ordered  away  and  his  place  was  taken  by  Captain  Leo  R. 
Sack,  who  had  had  plenty  of  journalistic  experience  in  Wash- 
ington. As  a  newspaper  man,  Captain  Sack  thoroughly  ap- 
preciated the  importance  of  having  the  paper  run  in  such 
a  way  as  to  be  read  by  the  largest  number  in  order  to  do 
the  greatest  possible  amount  of  good.  Under  his  guidance 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  181 

the  Plane  News  increased  in  size,  circulation,  and  influence. 
As  a  means  of  raising  our  spirits  and  keeping  us  steadily 
at  work  in  the  face  of  great  difficulties,  it  was  of  supreme 
importance  to  the  camp. 

The  Plane  News  was  most  fortunate  in  having  on  its  per- 
manent staff  two  artists  of  first-class  ability  and  ingenuity — 
Sergeant  George  D.  Alexander  and  Private  Timoleon  John- 
ston. Their  series  of  cartoons  depicting  various  features  of 
camp  life  and  aviation  experience  were  enjoyed  by  thou- 
sands every  week.  The  associate  editor  was  Private  Gene 
D.  Robinson,  whose  Epistles  of  Peter  rank  high  as  keen 
comment  on  the  conduct  of  the  war  veiled  in  humorous 
vein.  Of  a  trip  to  Paris  he  wrote  as  follows : 

A  guy  should  get  a  taxi  without  talking  to  the  driver,  as  the  me- 
tres run  on  just  the  same  when  you're  talking.  Always  have  your 
home  address  in  your  pocket,  as  the  ride  may  be  finished  in  an  am- 
bulance. Don't  ask  the  driver  where  you  are  going,  as  he  will  figger 
that  you  want  to  tour  the  city  anyway  and  the  only  place  he  won't 
take  you  is  the  top  of  the  Eiffel  Tower,  but  he  will  add  that  on  the 
bill  anyway.  The  taxi  will  finally  stop  when  it  runs  out  of  gas  and 
if  the  name  of  the  street  is  Rue  de  Bill  it's  probably  the  place  you're 
bound  for.  Pay  the  bill  and  if  he  says  anything  tell  him  that  he  need 
not  deliver  the  car  to  you,  but  to  keep  the  money  anyway. 

If  you  go  in  a  cafe*  at  11  o'clock  the  waiter  will  get  around  about 
1  o'clock.  There  is  nothing  on  the  menu  to  eat,  no  matter  how  care- 
ful you  read  it,  and  when  the  food  comes  you  don't  know  whether 
to  salt  and  pepper  it  or  to  use  a  nut  cracker.  While  you  are  studying, 
the  waiter  will  ask  for  a  tip  because  the  clock  strikes  2  o'clock.  Tell 
him  to  bring  you  the  leaf  of  a  tree,  a  limp  dish  rag  with  icing,  some- 
thing sweet  and  slimy  on  the  scalloped  tail  of  a  high  geared  snail, 
and  he  will  say  something  in  French,  probably  that  his  daughter 


182  AN  EXPLORER 

sprained  her  ankle  while  taking  a  violin  lesson,  but  outside  of  that 
everything  will  be  lovely. 

I  guess  I  will  close  now  as  I  got  to  be  in  a  battle  today,  which 
may  decide  the  war,  and  I  wish  you  would  send  them  ten  bucks  you 
owe  me  Steve. 

Yours  'til  Germany  goes  Democratic,  Pete 

Occasionally  we  got  a  letter,  the  publication  of  which  in 
the  Plane  News  helped  to  cheer  everybody  up,  such  as  the 
following  from  Colonel  Kilner: 

/  desire  to  commend  the  work  of  you  and  your  Staff  at  the  3rd 
A.  I.  C.  in  the  training"  of  pursuit  pilots.  Officers  at  the  Front  state 
that  the  pursuit  pilots  now  being  received  at  the  Front  are  the  best 
that  have  ever  been  turned  out,  and  are  highly  pleased  -with  their 
performances.  Request  that  you  convey  this  commendation  to  all  con- 
cerned. 

Editorially,  the  Plane  News  remarked: 

Such  positive  proof  of  the  effectiveness  of  the  school  is  gratifying. 
All  along  we  have  felt  that  we  were  on  the  right  track,  and  that  the 
pilots  that  were  graduated  from  the  school  to  the  front,  would  reflect 
high  credit  on  their  country  and  on  the  Air  Service. 

Only  the  fittest  survive  here.  But  if  they  cannot  make  good  here, 
why  send  unfit  pilots  to  the  front  where  the  life  or  death  of  thou- 
sands of  doughboys  depends  upon  their  efforts  ? 

It  is  pleasing  to  know  that  the  "  pursuit  pilots  now  being  received 
at  the  front  are  the  best  that  have  ever  been  turned  out "  and  that 
officers  "are  highly  pleased  with  their  performances." 

With  every  officer  and  man  and  every  student  officer  at  the  Third 
A.  I.  C.  on  his  toes  to  make  good,  and  all  working  with  energy  and 
enthusiasm  that  can  not  be  equalled,  there  is  every  reason  to  believe 
we  will  continue  to  send  the  "best  pilots"  to  the  front. 

From  time  to  time  the  Plane  News  would  raise  the  ambi- 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  183 

tions  of  our  pilots  by  printing  articles  concerning  work  done 
by  graduates  of  the  school  after  they  had  gone  to  the  Front 
Here  is  an  article  of  this  type  about  Lieutenant  Frank  Luke, 
Jr.,  who  won  undying  fame  in  his  few  weeks  at  the  Front : 

Luke  is  gone,  but  the  memory  of  his  exploits  will  remain  long 
after  this  war  is  forgotten. 

As  a  balloon  strafer  he  had  no  equal  and  he  seemed  to  take  a 
keen  delight  in  this  most  dangerous  of  aviation  combats.  His  plan  of 
attack  was  simple.  A  German  balloon  would  be  located  and  Luke, 
with  several  other  pilots,  would  climb  into  the  clouds  and  when  at 
a  point  above  the  balloon  he  would  dive  out  of  the  clouds,  followed 
part  way  down  by  the  rest  of  the  formation,  whose  particular  part 
would  be  to  start  a  "dog  fight,"  with  the  Fokkers  protecting  the 
balloon. 

Luke  would  continue  his  nose  dive  regardless  of  the  archies  that 
would  by  this  time  be  sprinkling  the  air  with  their  shrapnel  souvenirs. 
When  within  a  few  hundred  feet  of  the  victim  he  would  let  go  a 
burst  of  incendiary  bullets.  Immediately  there  would  be  a  flash  of 
flame  skywards;  two  figures  would  shoot  earthward  and  two  para- 
chutes would  gracefully  open  up  like  a  lady's  fan — the  show  would 
be  over  quicker  than  it  takes  to  tell  it.  Luke  would  immediately  zoom 
up  and  join  the  "  dog  fight"  if  it  still  continued,  but  generally  it  would 
be  over  by  the  time  he  gained  the  same  altitude,  one  side  or  the  other 
having  been  defeated. 

Luke's  greatest  feat  and  one  that  probably  will  never  be  equalled, 
was  on  September  18th  when  he  brought  down  three  planes  and  two 
balloons  in  twelve  minutes.  Most  of  Luke's  victories  were  shared  by 
pilots  in  his  flight  who  held  off  the  Fokkers  while  Luke  got  the  bal- 
loons. The  officer  who  teamed  with  Luke  and  who  shares  the  most 
victories  with  him  is  1st  Lieut.  Jos.  F.  Wehner,  27th  Aero  Squad- 
ron, of  Lynn,  Mass.,  who  has  to  his  credit  seven  balloons  and  two 
planes — Lieut.  Wehner  has  since  been  shot  down,  the  last  seen  of  him 
was  on  September  18th  fighting  five  Fokkers  while  protecting  Luke. 


184  AN  EXPLORER 

In  the  operations  office  of  the  First  Pursuit  Group,  to  which 
Luke  belonged,  is  a  large  piece  of  cardboard  fastened  on  the  wall,  at 
the  top  printed  in  one  inch  letters  are  the  words :  "  Hall  of  Fame," 
and  underneath  are  the  names  of  the  pilots  who  have  brought  down 
one  or  more  German  planes  or  balloons.  After  each  name  is  a  small 
facsimile  of  an  iron  cross,  each  cross  meaning  a  victor)-.  There  are 
eighteen  of  these  crosses  after  Luke's  name.  They  were  placed  there 
in  the  short  space  of  seventeen  days,  another  record  that  will  prob- 
ably never  be  equalled. 

The  last  heard  of  Lieut.  Luke  was  on  September  29th,  when  he 
dropped  a  note  to  an  American  Balloon  Squadron  stationed  near 
Verdun,  which  read:  "Watch  for  burning  balloons."  Shortly  after- 
wards two  German  balloons  were  seen  to  go  up  in  flames.  Luke  did 
not  return;  he  was  entirely  alone  on  his  last  expedition;  no  one  saw 
him  go  down  and  how  he  came  to  his  end  will  probably  never  be 
known.  The  official  record  reads  as  follows: 

"Second  Lieutenant  Frank  Luke,  Jr.,  Phoenix,  Ariz.,  27th  Aero 
Squadron,  First  Pursuit  Group.  Record:  14  balloons,  4  planes. 
Missing  since  Sept.,  '18." 

We  often  had  occasion  to  remind  our  students  of  the  fact 
that  Luke  had  had  considerable  difficulty  in  the  first  part 
of  the  course,  and  had  been  sent  back  once  or  twice  for 
failing  to  satisfy  his  instructors.  He  was  the  kind,  however, 
whom  nothing  could  discourage,  and  he  would  take  every 
opportunity  to  secure  all  the  instruction  and  practice  in 
flying  that  could  possibly  be  obtained. 

The  Plane  News  was  particularly  useful  in  the  trying 
days  after  the  fighting  had  ceased.  One  of  the  schemes  it 
helped  to  develop  in  order  to  make  time  pass  more  rapidly 
was  thus  described : 


Field  9's  Team  in  the  Plane  Assembling  Competition 
End  of  Part  I,  Wings  removed  and  /lacked  Plane  ready  for  shipment 

on  truck 


Plane  Assembling1  Competition 
Field  8's  Team  half  through  Part  II,  reassembling  the  Plane 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  185 

A  new  sport,  one  that  can  be  played  only  on  a  flying  field,  sprang 
into  popularity  here  last  Saturday  when  teams  of  airplane  mechanics, 
working  against  time,  demonstrated  to  a  huge  crowd  on  the  Main 
Field,  just  how  fast  an  airplane  can  be  dis-assembled  and  subsequently 
completely  rigged  ready  for  the  pilot. 

The  initial  contest  created  keen  enthusiasm  and  the  rooters  cheered 
the  workers  on  their  work  with  the  same  spirit  that  fans  encourage 
the  progress  of  baseball,  football  and  track  teams.  The  interest  created 
is  especially  gratifying  as  this  combination  of  work  and  play  had  not 
been  tried  out  before.  The  contest  also  demonstrated  how  fast  Amer- 
ican Airplane  Mechanics  can  work,  as  the  slowest  team  finished  in 
better  time  than  it  was  anticipated  would  be  necessary  for  the  winning 
team. 

The  ship  used  for  the  initial  contest  was  the  Nieuport,  type  27, 
with  a  120  horse  power  Le  Rhone  motor. 

Too  much  credit  can  not  be  given  the  men  comprising  the  com- 
petitive teams,  whether  they  be  of  the  winning  one  or  the  last  to  finish, 
for  the  "pep"  displayed  and  particularly  the  ingenuity  in  tools  and 
special  equipment  used  as  time  savers — as  all  sorts  of  jigs  and  special 
took  were  to  be  seen.  Inquiry  of  the  engineering  officers  of  the  various 
fields  brought  out  the  facts  that  they  were  the  tools  regularly  used  on 
the  fields  and  were  the  results  of  the  ideas  of  the  mechanics  engaged 
in  different  work.  Nothing  in  the  way  of  took  being  furnished  by  the 
government  for  this  work,  it  being  up  to  the  mechanics  themselves 
to  design  and  make  tools  to  save  time,  and  the  results  of  Saturday's 
contest  speak  only  too  eloquently  as  to  how  they  have  met  the 
emergency. 

The  contest  was  won  by  the  team  from  Field  Eight,  composed  of 
the  following : 

Ship  Crew  —  Sergeants  First  Class  Harry  F.  Woodring  and 
Chas.  F.  Poison,  Corporal  Harry  Bearcroft  and  Privates  First  Class 
Michael  Dolphin  and  Frank  L.  Lacher.  Motor  Crew  —  Sergeants 
Aaron  I.  Rose,  Bernard  J.  Gorman  and  Henry  R.  Clark. 


186  AN  EXPLORER 

Total  time  consumed  for  the  four  operations  was  977s  minutes. 
This  includes  the  penalization  of  lx/5  minutes  on  the  first  operation. 

The  second  team  was  that  of  Assembly  and  Test,  composed  of  the 
following: 

Ship  Crew  —  Sergeants  First  Class  C.  Winkler,  C.  W.  Misfelt 
and  T.  W.  Reardon  and  Sergeants  R.  W.  Lyon  and  A.  J.  John- 
ston. Motor  Crew  —  Sergeant  First  Class  G.  W.  Puryear,  Sergeant 
R.  S.  Johnson  and  Corporal  F.  R.  Moore. 

Time  was  103  minutes  for  the  four  operations. 

Third  to  finish  was  Field  Five,  teams  comprising  the  following: 

Ship  Crew  —  Sergeants  First  Class  Jesse  Parcell  and  Albert 
Busk  and  Sergeants  Frederick  Gordon,  Chester  Tidland  and  John 
Downey.  Motor  Crew — Sergeants  First  Class  Theodore  Holmes 
and  Wm.  H.  McMahon  and  Sergeant  Bueren  Manwiller. 

Time  104  minutes. 

The  total  operation  of  which  time  is  given  above,  was  composed 
of  four  separate  operations.  First  being  that  of  disassembling  the  ship, 
lashing  the  wings  to  the  side  of  the  fuselage  ready  for  transporting. 
Second  operation,  that  of  reassembling  the  ship,  lining  same  ready 
for  flight,  safetying  all  bolts,  nuts  and  turnbuckles  so  that  it  would 
pass  inspection.  These  two  operations  were  done  by  what  we  have 
called  "Ship  Crews,"  composed  of  five  men.  The  third  and  fourth 
operations  were,  namely,  the  taking  out  of  the  motor,  and  installing 
of  the  motor  in  the  ship,  including  starting  of  same.  This  was  handled 
by  what  we  have  called  "Motor  Crews,"  composed  of  three  men. 

The  following  is  a  table  of  figures  showing  the  time  taken  by  dif- 
ferent crews  for  the  different  operations,  and  it  will  be  interesting  to 
note  that  it  was  anyone's  contest  up  until  the  last  moment: 

First  Operation —  Second  Operation  — 

Field  Fourteen,  13  minutes.  Assembly  and  Test,  25  minutes. 

Field  Eight,  **7i  minutes.  Field  Seven,  314/8  minutes. 

Field  Seven,  15  minutes.  Field  Eight,  S7ll2  minutes. 

Field  Five,  37  /5  minutes. 


Plane  Assembling  Competition 
Part  II,  reassembling  the  Plane 


Plane  Assembling  Competition 
End  of  Part  III,  taking  out  the  motor 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  187 

Third  Operation —  Fourth  Operation — 

Aero  Repair,  13%  minutes.  Field  Five,  292/6  minutes. 

Field  Eight,  15l/2  minutes.  Field  Eight,  31  minutes. 

Field  Fourteen,  182/s  minutes.  Assembly  and  Test,  334/8  minutes. 
Field  Five,  184/«  minutes. 

The  second  contest  of  the  series  will  be  staged  this  afternoon  on 
the  Main  Field  with  Nieuport  23-meter  planes,  equipped  with  80 
horse  power  Le  Rhone  motors.  Cash  prizes  of  200  francs  for  the  first 
and  100  francs  for  the  team  second  under  the  wire  will  be  given  by 
the  Plane  Nexus.  The  Plane  News  also  has  provided  for  the  purchase 
of  banners  for  the  winners. 

The  second  contest  aroused  keen  competition,  and  further 
reductions  were  made  in  the  time  for  the  four  operations. 
The  sporting  editor  of  the  Plane  Nexvs  wrote  this  report: 

Spurred  by  the  presence  of  a  large  crowd  and  two  bands,  the 
Main  Field  and  Field  7  organizations,  300  francs  prize  money  and  the 
desire  to  hang  up  a  record,  Air  Service  mechanics  staged  a  real  sporty 
exhibition  of  the  new  sport  of  disassembling  and  assembling  an  aero- 
plane on  the  Main  Field  Saturday  afternoon. 

Minutes  were  clipped  off  the  records  made  on  the  previous  con- 
test and  it  is  believed  that  the  winners  ran  up  a  record  for  23-meter 
Nieuports  that  will  stand  for  some  time  to  come.  The  increasing  num- 
ber of  ingenious  tools  which  have  been  made  by  the  different  crews 
were  quite  noticeable.  There  were  very  few  penalties  considering  the 
time  taken  for  the  entire  four  operations  and  all  expectations  have 
been  surpassed.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  Airnatsof  this  center  would 
be  able  to  hold  their  own  against  any  and  all  competition. 

Results  of  Saturday's  contest  are  as  follows: 

First — Field  Two  A,  1  hour  2  minutes  40  seconds. 

Second — Field  Seven,  1  hour  7  minutes  10  seconds. 

Third — Aero  Repair,  1  hour  8  minutes  45  seconds. 


188  AN  EXPLORER 

Probably  the  most  remarkable  thing  to  take  place  in  the  way  of 
fast  workmanship  was  in  the  third  operation,  where  the  Aero  Repair 
took  out  the  motor  in  11  minutes. 

The  Field  2  A  team  which  won  the  first  prize  of  200  francs 
donated  by  the  Plane  News  was  composed  of  the  following  men: 
Sgts.  Marson,  Brindell,  Rust,  Pierce,  McFadden  and  Cpls.  Hawn, 
Dotson,  and  Muhler.  Field  7's  team  which  won  the  second  prize  of 
100  francs  was  composed  of  men  from  the  37th,  640th,  and  173rd 
Squadrons;  M.  E.  Cambell,  Sgts.  Bowman,  Barbee,  Peck,  Yepsen, 
Phelps  and  Chauffeurs  Hamilton  and  Lewis. 

Before  closing  this  brief  account  of  the  activities  under- 
taken by  the  Plane  News,  I  must  give  one  more  of  its  inter- 
esting stories  about  Issoudun. 

The  bravery  and  daring  of  American  aviators  is  not  confined  to 
active  service  at  the  front,  as  the  following  remarkable  experience  of 
a  student  pilot  at  this  advanced  training  center  will  prove :  The  moni- 
teur  was  giving  instructions,  and  upon  the  day  the  accident  occurred, 
the  moniteur,  as  usual,  rose  in  the  air  ahead  of  the  pilot,  who  fol- 
lowed, and  the  two  planes  quickly  sought  an  altitude  of  5000  feet. 
Then  began  a  series  of  manoeuvers,  the  moniteur  demonstrating  for 
the  benefit  of  his  student.  The  Lieut,  suddenly  dove  at  the  instructor, 
expecting  him  to  get  out  of  his  line  of  flight.  Through  some  miscal- 
culation or  misjudgment  of  distance,  the  moniteur  held  his  plane 
too  near  the  diving  plane,  and  the  engine  head  of  the  student's  plane 
collided  with  his  wings.  With  one  wing  crushed,  and  with  such  force 
of  momentum  that  it  was  impossible  to  gain  even  a  fraction  of  con- 
trol, the  moniteur's  plane  dropped  like  a  stone  to  the  earth,  result- 
ing in  the  instant  death  of  the  instructor. 

A  peculiar  feature  of  the  accident  was  the  cutting  of  the  engine's 
fastenings  of  the  student's  plane  to  such  an  extent  that  the  engine 
dropped  from  its  place  and  fell  to  the  ground.  The  result  was  the 
destruction  of  any  resemblance  of  balance,  and  the  plane  wobbled 


Plane  Assembling"  Competition 
Beginning  of  Part  IV,  putting  the  motor  back  in  position 


Plane  Assembling  Competition 

Cheering  the  winning  Team  from  Field  14.  The  riggers  of  this  Team  in 

the  foreground,  having  finished  their  work,  Parts  land  II,  are  watching 

the  motor  mechanics  complete  Part  IV 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  189 

uncertainly  on  unsteady  wings.  Seeing  and  grasping  the  situation  in- 
stantly, the  pilot  steadied  the  plane  against  a  probable  fall  by  shift- 
ing his  body  so  as  to  counter  die  loss  of  balance  and  so  succeeded  in 
keeping  the  plane  on  a  fairly  even  keel.  Then  started  a  series  of  glides 
controlled  by  the  shifting  of  the  weight  of  his  body,  that  for  cool- 
ness and  daring  have  few  parallels. 

Seizing  a  moment  when  the  plane  rode  at  an  even  keel,  the  stu- 
dent mounted  quickly  upon  the  fuselage  at  full  length  and  again 
steadying  the  machine,  he  started  his  descent  to  the  ground,  with  no 
control  except  the  weight  of  his  body  against  a  counter  inclination  of 
the  unbalanced  plane  to  nutter  into  a  fall.  Any  panic  or  nervousness 
upon  his  part  would  have  resulted  in  death,  and  knowing  this  and 
realizing  that  the  odds  were  heavily  against  him  the  lieutenant  manip- 
ulated the  controls  of  the  plane,  and  worked  his  bodily  balance  con- 
trol as  calmly  as  if  he  was  ten  feet  from  the  earth.  The  ground  gradu- 
ally shaped  into  a  recognizable  view,  and  with  his  admirable  coolness 
the  lieutenant  glided  to  earth  with  a  landing  worthy  of  a  finished 
pilot.  The  remarkable  nerve  and  firm  determination  of  the  pilot  had 
won  the  day — and  saved  his  life. 

The  whole  daring  performance  had  been  observed  by  the  pilot 
of  another  plane  which  had  followed  the  wounded  plane  downwards, 
unable  to  give  the  slightest  aid.  The  pilot  of  the  second  plane  was 
wearer  of  the  Croix  de  Guerre  and  had  fought  air  battles  at  the  front 
where  scenes  of  reckless  daring  and  paramount  bravery  were  com- 
monplace to  him,  but  he  later  stated  that  the  feat  of  the  student  pilot 
was  one  of  the  most  remarkable  for  coolness  and  bravery  that  he 
had  ever  witnessed. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

THE    ENGINEERING    DEPARTMENT 

TO  the  average  person,  a  flying  school  is  a  place  where 
flying  is  taught,  but  to  the  enlisted  man  on  duty  at 
a  flying  school,  it  is  a  place  where  wrecked  planes  are 
continually  being  repaired.  Young  pilots  are  always  mak- 
ing errors  in  judgment  that  result  sometimes  in  damage  to 
themselves,  but  more  often  in  damage  to  the  airplane. 

Crashes  that  occurred  on  the  airdromes  of  outlying  fields 
were  taken  care  of  by  the  engineering  department  of  the 
field  concerned.  Those  that  occurred  on  cross-country  flights 
or  in  the  area  between  the  fields,  and  which  had  to  be  ren- 
dered first-aid  by  our  field  service  department,  were  brought 
in  to  the  main  field  and  turned  over  to  the  aero  repair  de- 
partment, under  the  direction  of  Captain  Duncan  Dana. 
If  the  crashed  plane  proved  to  be  a  total  wreck,  it  was  care- 
fully salvaged,  all  the  precious  bolts  and  screws  that  were 
so  hard  to  obtain  in  France  during  war  times  were  rescued, 
and  everything  that  could  be  used  again  was  turned  into 
the  supply  stores  from  which  planes  were  rebuilt 

In  the  airplane  repair  shops,  work  was  repeatedly  held 
up  through  lack  of  raw  material.  Dope  and  cloth  for  the 
wings,  well-seasoned  spruce,  ash  and  laminated  wood,  glue, 
sheet  aluminum,  steel  cables  for  wing  bracing,  paint,  and 
varnish  were  often  unobtainable  for  weeks  at  a  time.  In  par- 
ticular, the  only  glue  we  could  secure  for  long  periods  was 
of  very  poor  grade  and  not  waterproof.  Furthermore,  the 
shortage  of  airplane  spare  parts  was  so  serious  at  all  times, 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  191 

and  the  difficulties  of  procuring  them  from  the  French 
manufacturers  were  so  tremendous,  that  it  was  only  by 
making  these  parts  from  such  raw  material  as  could  be  ob- 
tained and  constandy  using  old  parts  of  crashed  airplanes 
that  sufficient  material  was  secured  to  keep  the  planes 
repaired. 

There  was  an  excellent  wood-working  shop  in  which 
spare  parts  for  machines  of  all  types  could  be  turned  out 
Spars,  struts,  and  longerons  were  made  for  all  types  of 
planes.  Wings  were  entirely  rebuilt,  landinggears,or  under- 
carriages, as  the  English  called  them,  were  constructed  out 
of  partly  new  and  pardy  salvaged  materials.  Altogether,  our 
central  repair  shop  was  able  to  rebuild  and  turn  out  "as 
good  as  new"  more  than  twenty  airplanes  every  week.  Our 
engineer  officers  estimated  that  this  shop  saved  the  Govern- 
ment more  than  $100,000  a  week  through  its  skill  in  manu- 
facturing planes  and  spares  out  of  salvaged  materials  and 
from  a  limited  supply  of  spruce  sent  from  the  United  States. 

One  of  the  departments  which  always  interested  our  vis- 
itors was  the  propeller  repair  shop.  There  is  nothing  on  an 
airplane  which  must  be  more  exactly  balanced  and  more 
carefully  made  than  a  propeller.  "Props"  represent  a  high 
degree  of  very  skilled  labor.  At  the  same  time  they  are 
extremely  vulnerable  and  subject  to  constant  breakage.  A 
bad  landing  frequently  causes  a  plane  to  stand  on  its  nose 
or  capsize.  In  either  case  the  propeller  is  almost  sure  to  be 
broken.  A  forced  landing  on  soft  ground,  no  matter  how 
skilfully  the  pilot  may  bring  his  plane  to  earth,  is  likely  to 


192  AN  EXPLORER 

mean  a  somersault  because  the  wheels  cannot  run  fast  enough 
over  the  soft  ground  to  accommodate  the  forward  motion  of 
the  plane.  This  means  another  propeller  gone.  In  starting 
off  from  a  muddy  field — and  all  fields  in  France  are  muddy 
during  a  good  part  of  the  year — a  certain  amount  of  mud  is 
thrown  up  from  the  under-carriage.  If  this  strikes  the  rap- 
idly revolving  propeller,  it  is  almost  sure  to  nick  it  in  such 
a  way  as  to  make  the  plane  vibrate.  There  must  be  a  new 
"prop."  Even  the  celebrated  Rickenbacker  mud-guards, 
which  were  invented  by  the  first  engineer  officer  of  the 
school,  who  later  became  our  Ace  of  Aces,  failed  to  prevent 
all  danger  from  this  source,  although  enormously  reducing 
propeller  fatalities. 

Broken  propellers  had  always  heretofore  been  regarded 
as  of  no  further  service.  Since  a  propeller  costs  from  $200 
up,  it  can  be  readily  seen  that  here  was  a  source  of  great 
expense.  At  Issoudun,  however,  it  had  meant  more  than  ex- 
pense. Propellers  simply  could  not  be  bought  in  sufficient 
quantities  to  provide  for  the  enormous  loss  due  to  those 
muddy,  rock-strewn  fields.  Accordingly,  during  Colonel 
Kilner's  regime,  every  broken  propeller  had  been  carefully 
saved  and  the  wood  used  to  patch  those  which  were  not 
damaged  too  seriously.  Provided  two-thirds  of  a  blade  was 
left  practically  intact,  our  skilled  workmen  had  learned  how 
to  replace  the  other  third,  and  to  do  it  in  such  a  way  as  to 
make  that  part  of  the  propeller  stronger  than  it  had  been 
before.  In  fact,  it  was  the  proud  boast  of  the  sergeant  in 
charge  of  this  shop  that  some  "props"  had  come  back  eight 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  193 

or  ten  times  to  be  repaired,  but  that  the  damage  had  never 
occurred  in  the  place  which  he  had  mended,  but  always  at 
a  new  point  About  twenty-five  propellers  were  turned  out 
of  this  shop  every  day  as  good  as  new.  The  saving  here 
to  the  Government  was  rarely  less  than  $25,000  a  week. 
The  men  took  great  pride  in  the  circumstance  that  for  many 
months  this  was  the  only  flying  school  that  was  able  to  save 
large  amounts  of  money  in  this  way. 

Oil  that  had  been  fouled  by  usage  in  the  motors,  and 
which  in  the  old  days  would  have  been  thrown  away,  was 
collected  and  used  in  our  little  foundry  as  fuel  with  which 
to  melt  aluminum.  This  enabled  us  to  cast  new  pistons  at 
a  time  when  they  were  unobtainable  in  the  market  Not 
only  pistons,  but  many  other  things  were  made  in  this 
litde  foundry,  including  piston  pins,  piston  rings,  bush- 
ings, etc. 

The  motor  repair  department,  under  the  very  efficient 
management  of  Captain  Charles  W.  Babcock,  maintained 
a  wonderful  record.  There  was  practically  never  a  time 
when  flying  had  to  be  postponed  for  want  of  a  reliable  motor. 
Most  of  our  motors  were  Le  Rhone  80's  and  120's.  Their 
normal  life  was  forty  or  fifty  hours  of  flight.  After  a  motor 
had  had  fifty  hours  in  the  air,  it  was  taken  out  of  the  plane 
and  sent  to  the  machine  shop  for  a  thorough  overhauling. 
It  was  completely  stripped,  every  part  carefully  gone  over 
and  cleaned,  new  parts  substituted  if  necessary,  and  an  effort 
made  to  rebuild  the  motor  as  good  as  new.  After  reassem- 
bling, it  was  sent  out  to  the  test  department  and  thoroughly 


. 


194  AN  EXPLORER 

tested.  Careful  records  were  kept  each  day  of  the  progress 
of  motors  through  the  shop,  and  the  men  took  particular 
pleasure  in  striving  to  better  these  records.  Shortly  before 
the  Armistice  was  signed,  119  motors  were  turned  out  of 
the  shop  completely  overhauled  in  one  week.  This  week's 
work  included  eight  Liberty  motors  and  one  Hispano  Suiza, 
in  addition  to  one  hundred  and  ten  Le  Rhones. 

Work  in  the  motor  repair  and  machine  shop  had  been 
delayed  at  the  start  by  the  presence  of  unintelligent  and 
insufficiently  instructed  personnel,  and  by  the  absence  of  an 
adequate  supply  of  spare  parts.  The  manufacture  of  spare 
parts  was  hindered  by  the  fact  that  wire,  steel,  and  sheet 
metals  could  only  be  obtained  in  very  small  quantities  and 
with  extreme  difficulty.  At  the  time  of  my  arrival  the 
machine  shop  was  doing  well,  and  there  was  less  complaint 
of  the  character  of  enlisted  personnel.  The  system  of  or- 
ganizing squadrons  in  the  United  States  was  at  first  espe- 
cially poor.  Men  with  absolutely  no  qualifications  as  me- 
chanics were  listed  on  the  squadron  organization  as  tin- 
smiths, coppersmiths,  and  expert  motor  mechanics,  although 
in  civil  life  they  had  been  salesmen,  clerks,  and  farmhands. 
One  mechanic's  qualification  was  having  "driven  a  Ford 
occasionally."  Men  were  rated  as  expert  machinists  whose 
only  experience  with  machinery  consisted  in  feeding  stock 
into  one  end  of  an  automatic  machine  and  pulling  the  fin- 
ished product  out  at  the  other  end.  Such  poor  and  super- 
ficial methods  of  trade  testing  had  been  used  that  it  had 
been  necessary  at  Issoudun  to  reclassify  squadrons  in  their 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  195 

entirety,  and  to  organize  courses  of  instruction  and  training 
for  men  who  had  been  rated  as  experts  in  their  lines,  but 
who  had  no  real  conception  of  the  fundamental  principles 
of  the  trade  they  professed.  The  men  were  anxious  to  learn, 
however,  and  by  the  middle  of  1918  were  very  proficient 
As  time  went  on,  the  enlisted  personnel  arriving  from  the 
United  States  improved  as  a  result  of  the  better  training 
received  in  America  or  England. 

The  sheet  metal  department  was  kept  busy  preparing  gas 
tanks  and  cowls.  We  had  a  great  deal  of  trouble  with  the 
tanks  in  the  French  planes.  The  straining  incidental  to 
acrobatic  flying  frequently  caused  them  to  leak.  Turning 
an  airplane  upon  its  nose  often  damages  not  only  the  pro- 
pellers, but  also  the  cowl  or  hood  of  the  engine. 

A  large  part  of  the  flying  in  an  advanced  school  of  this 
sort  must  be  done  at  a  sufficient  elevation  to  enable  the  pilot 
who  accidentally  stalls  and  gets  into  a  spinning  nose  dive 
to  come  out  of  it  safely.  Consequently  altimeters  were  in 
great  demand,  and  were  difficult  to  secure.  Our  instrument 
department  was  constantly  repairing  those  we  had,  and  also 
standardizing  the  tachometers  or  revolution  counters,  on 
which  the  young  pilots  depended  in  such  large  measure  for 
their  safety.  An  old  experienced  pilot  hardly  needs  a  "  rev. 
counter  "  to  tell  him  whether  his  motor  is  turning  up  as  it 
should.  But  an  inexperienced  pilot  must  never  leave  the 
ground  without  assuring  himself  by  means  of  this  delicate 
instrument  that  his  power  plant  is  going  to  be  able  to  get 
him  safely  over  the  trees. 


196  AN  EXPLORER 

It  was  also  continually  necessary  to  repair  magnetos  and 
to  rebuild  spark  plugs.  In  one  week  in  October  our  shop 
turned  out  143  magnetos  and  2140  spark  plugs. 

Rough  landings  also  caused  great  damage  to  the  landing 
gear.  Sometimes  the  pneumatic  tires  were  the  only  things 
to  suffer.  Then  again  the  wheels  themselves  would  give  way 
under  the  effects  of  a  bad  "pancake."  Our  shops  did  not 
allow  this  to  interfere  with  flying,  however,  and  in  one 
week  we  turned  out  as  many  as  290  wheels  and  350  newly 
vulcanized  tires.  In  this  way  our  mechanics  enabled  us  to 
overcome  the  difficulty  of  purchasing  supplies  and  the 
delays  incident  to  transportation  over  submarine-infested 
waters. 

One  of  the  greatest  difficulties  faced  by  our  repair  and 
supply  departments  was  the  wide  variety  of  our  machines. 
This  had  been  rendered  necessary  by  the  scarcity  of  the 
most  desirable  types  and  our  determination  to  use  anything 
that  would  fly.  It  was  hard  to  keep  all  in  commission.  At 
the  close  of  the  day,  September  9,  1918,  out  of  1002  ma- 
chines on  hand  there  were  only  519  in  commission.  For  the 
important  combat  work  at  Field  8,  more  than  two-thirds  of 
the  planes  were  out  of  commission.  On  Field  7,  considerably 
over  half  were  in  the  hospital.  Yet  the  training  on  these  two 
fields  was  of  enormous  importance,  and  required  the  fastest 
and  best  machines.  The  demand  from  the  Front  that  we 
turn  out  pilots  during  October  was  greater  than  at  any  other 
time  during  the  history  of  the  school.  It  will  be  remembered 
that  we  broke  the  best  previous  flying  record  by  over  5000 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  197 

hours  during  this  month.  Yet  so  efficient  was  our  engineer- 
ing department  under  the  able  leadership  of  Major  Victor 
Page,  that  on  October  20,  Field  8  had  less  than  one-third 
out  of  commission,  while  Field  7  had  99  machines  in  com- 
mission and  only  6  out  of  commission.  Out  of  a  total  of  979 
machines,  there  were  628  in  commission — an  improve- 
ment of  more  than  100.  Of  course,  after  the  Armistice  we 
were  able  to  improve  this  record  because  it  was  not  neces- 
sary to  push  the  training  at  such  speed.  On  the  last  day  of 
November,  out  of  1109  machines  then  on  our  books,  there 
were  951  that  needed  no  repairs.  Field  8  had  54  machines 
in  commission — 17  in  repair;  Field  7,  134  machines  in 
commission  and  only  one  undergoing  repair ;  Field  5  had 
113  in  commission  and  not  one  out  of  commission.  I  mention 
these  fields  particularly  because  they  used  the  lightest  and 
most  delicate  types  of  planes,  and  it  had  always  been  very 
difficult  to  keep  them  sufficiently  supplied  with  flying  ma- 
terial. This  fine  record  was  due  largely  to  the  extraordinarily 
good  morale  among  the  enlisted  men  on  these  three  fields, 
who  responded  eagerly  to  the  splendid  leadership  of  Captain 
Street,  Captain  Davis,  and  Captain  Wingate. 

Great  credit  should  be  given  to  the  officers  and  men  of 
the  engineering  department  for  their  unfailing  devotion  to 
duty,  for  the  ingenuity  they  developed  in  inventing  new 
tools,  devising  new  processes,  and  meeting  emergencies  as 
they  arose.  Major  Page,  who  had  long  been  a  recognized 
authority  on  internal  combustion  motors,  and  who  came  to 
be  acknowledged  as  the  best  aeronautical  engineer  in  France, 


198  AN  EXPLORER 

was  able  to  instil  great  enthusiasm  in  his  staff.  His  expert 
knowledge  gave  them  confidence  in  his  judgment,  while  his 
tireless  energy  and  fearless  honesty  inspired  them  with  a 
determination  to  double  their  efforts. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

IMPORTANT  ACCESSORIES 

A  FLYING  School  needs  more  than  repair  shops.  It 
■  requires  a  Test  Department,  Supplies,  Doctors,  Let- 
ters from  Home,  and  the  ministrations  of  the  Red  Cross. 

After  a  new  airplane  arrived  from  the  manufacturers  and 
had  been  assembled,  or  after  a  rebuilt  plane  had  been  sent 
out  from  the  aero  repair  shops,  or  whenever  a  flyer  found 
fault  with  his  plane  and  claimed  it  was  not  fit  to  fly,  it  was 
immediately  turned  over  to  one  of  the  officers  of  the  test  de- 
partment This  department,  organized  under  Captain  (later 
Major)  W.  M.  Conant,  Jr.,  stood  between  the  engineering 
department  and  the  training,  or  flying,  department  The 
testers  had  to  be  not  only  expert  flyers,  but  born  mechanics 
with  an  intuition  for  "trouble  shooting." 

It  was  frequently  their  duty  to  take  up  types  of  planes 
that  they  had  never  flown  before.  It  was  their  every-day  duty 
to  be  the  first  to  decide  by  experiment  whether  a  plane  would 
fly,  and  whether  it  had  been  carefully  constructed.  Of  course, 
they  first  determined  by  visual  inspection  that  the  plane 
had  been  properly  put  together,  was  properly  rigged,  and 
appeared  to  be  safe  for  flight.  But  they  then  had  to  deter- 
mine by  actual  flight  whether  the  plane  would  fly  according 
to  the  high  standards  maintained  by  their  department 

Captain  Conant  had  a  remarkable  record.  He  had  flown 
every  type  of  ship  at  the  school  and  had  never  made  a  poor 
landing,  although  many  times  obliged  to  make  forced  land- 
ings. At  the  Front  he  would  have  had  a  wonderful  record 


200  AN  EXPLORER 

as  an  Ace,  but  he  cheerfully  accepted  the  inevitable  fate  of 
being  obliged  to  utilize  his  skill  in  making  the  training  of 
aviators  as  safe,  and  the  planes  as  mechanically  perfect,  as 
possible.  Like  Captain  Austin  and  so  many  of  our  best 
pilots,  he  sacrificed  fame  for  greater  service. 

One  of  his  permanent  occupations  was  looking  for  new 
testers  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  constantly  growing  school. 
He  looked  for  men  who  seemed  to  possess  the  flying  instinct 
and  whose  ability  was  natural  rather  than  mechanical.  He 
insisted  that  his  testers  be  thoroughly  familiar  with  aero- 
dynamics, and  at  the  same  time  have  a  large  amount  of 
practical  common  sense.  As  a  result  of  his  skill  in  selecting 
men,  the  testers  of  Issoudun  came  to  be  known  as  a  body 
of  extremely  hard-working  pilots,  cool,  finished,  accom- 
plished flyers,  who  had  absolutely  no  fear  of  the  air,  and  to 
whom  stunt  flying  was  merely  one  of  the  easiest  ways  of 
determining  whether  a  plane  was  fit  to  fly.  In  fact,  no  plane 
was  O.K.'d  for  flying  until  a  tester  had  put  it  through  various 
severe  manoeuvres  and  determined  that  it  was  mechanically 
ready  for  the  use  of  student  pilots. 

To  the  test  department  was  due  the  credit  for  the  fact 
that  so  few  students  at  Issoudun  lost  their  lives  through 
mechanical  defects  in  our  airplanes.  The  very  severe  strains 
brought  to  bear  on  planes  engaged  in  combat  practice  on 
Field  8  were  occasionally  responsible  for  accidents  that  oc- 
curred after  a  considerable  period  in  the  air,  and  in  flying 
for  several  periods  after  the  test  department  had  O.K.'d  the 
ship.  Otherwise,  no  one  was  killed  by  a  faulty  plane.  It  was, 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  201 

of  course,  impossible  for  the  testers  to  make  sure  that  each 
of  the  thousand  or  more  planes  at  the  school  were  O.K.'d 
before  each  flight,  but  in  the  case  of  newly  assembled  planes, 
or  those  newly  repaired  after  being  damaged  or  reported  as 
not  flying  properly,  their  skill  in  inspection  and  testing  left 
nothing  to  be  desired. 

After  the  Armistice  was  signed  and  the  necessity  of 
rushing  our  finished  product  through  at  the  highest  pos- 
sible speed  was  eliminated,  orders  were  given  that  the  test 
department  should  make  frequent  inspections  of  all  ships 
brought  out  to  the  lines  for  flying,  and  check  up  on  the 
inspection  made  by  the  local  officer  in  charge  of  flying. 
There  were  no  enlisted  mechanics  in  the  test  department. 
It  was  composed  entirely  of  oflicers  who  ranked  as  inspec- 
tors, and  who  pointed  out  to  the  engineering  oflicers  or  their 
representatives  the  faults  that  needed  to  be  remedied.  It 
had  been  the  custom  in  the  past  for  the  testers  to  be  a  branch 
of  the  engineering  department  and  under  the  control  of  the 
Chief  Aeronautical  Engineer.  I  came  to  believe,  however, 
that  it  was  better  policy  for  them  to  belong  to  a  separate 
department  and  for  the  Chief  Tester  to  be  on  a  parity  with 
both  the  Officer  in  Charge  of  Flying  and  the  Chief  Engineer. 

It  must  always  be  borne  in  mind  that  an  aeronautical 
engineering  department  likes  to  keep  up  a  high  record  of 
performance  in  turning  out  rebuilt  motors  and  planes.  It 
must  also  be  borne  in  mind  that  a  training  or  flying  de- 
partment likes  to  break  records  in  the  amount  of  flying 
done  and  the  number  of  students  graduated.  Consequently, 


202  AN  EXPLORER 

it  is  of  particular  importance  that  a  department,  whose  sole 
interest  is  to  see  that  accidents  do  not  occur  from  mechanical 
defects,  should  come  with  power  between  these  two  depart- 
ments and  prevent  the  acceptance  by  the  flying  depart- 
ment of  any  machine  that  had  been  repaired  too  hastily,  or 
the  continued  flying  of  any  machine  of  which  a  student 
complains. 

Every  one  who  came  to  visit  Issoudun  was  shown  our  aero 
supply  warehouses,  in  which  we  all  took  the  greatest  pos- 
sible amount  of  pride.  Organized  by  Captain  H.  B.  Close, 
they  were  improved  and  extended  by  Lieutenant  (later 
Captain)  Selmer  J.  Tilleson.  We  were  obliged  to  use  so 
many  different  types  of  planes,  and  to  have  on  hand  such 
a  very  great  variety  of  aeronautical  supplies,  that  if  Lieu- 
tenant Tilleson  had  not  succeeded  always  in  being  able  to 
find  the  desired  article,  no  one  could  have  blamed  him. 
But  to  keep  hundreds  of  thousands  of  spare  parts,  listed 
under  more  than  30,000  separate  headings,  in  stock  and 
always  be  able  to  locate  any  one  of  them  at  a  moment's 
notice  and  to  tell  exactly  how  many  had  been  on  hand  the 
day  before,  was  an  achievement  that  deserved  extraordinary 
commendation.  Fortunately,  we  had  no  Handley  Pages,  for 
a  single  Handley  Page  airplane  is  itself  composed  of  100,000 
parts ;  but  we  did  have  seventeen  types  of  Nieuports,  four 
types  of  Morane  monoplanes,  three  types  of  Spads,  besides 
sundry  Sopwiths,  Caudrons,  Voisins,  and  Avros,  and  the 
American  DH-4.  Nevertheless,  Lieutenant  Tilleson's  ware- 
houses were  models  of  neatness  and  orderly  arrangement, 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  203 

which  evoked  the  envious  admiration  of  other  supply 
officers. 

One  of  our  principal  difficulties  was  in  securing  a  suffi- 
cient supply  of  gasoline.  It  was  a  considerable  time  before 
the  army  officers  who  controlled  the  distribution  of  gaso- 
line tank  cars  came  to  a  proper  realization  of  our  needs. 
The  fact  that  they  had  sent  us  four  tank  cars,  each  con- 
taining 6000  gallons  of  gasoline,  "less  than  ten  days  ago" 
seemed  to  them  a  sufficient  answer  to  our  wail  that  we 
should  "have  to  stop  cross-country  flying  this  afternoon 
on  account  of  lack  of  gas"  unless  more  was  immediately 
received.  They  finally  learned  that  on  good  days  we  fre- 
quently did  more  than  1000  hours  of  flying,  that  each  hour 
of  flying  meant  from  12  to  20  gallons  of  gasoline,  depend- 
ing upon  the  type  of  motor  used,  and  that  the  multiplica- 
tion table  proved  that  we  were  likely  to  use  up  more  than 
two  tank  cars  every  good  day.  Captain  Leo  Sack,  our 
efficient  liaison  officer,  was  fortunately  very  convincing  and 
most  persistent.  When  his  friends  finally  mastered  this 
problem,  and  grasped  what  it  meant  to  keep  one  thousand 
airplanes  supplied  with  power,  we  had  no  more  trouble. 

We  sometimes  felt  that  the  supply  officers  in  Paris  did 
not  treat  us  as  generously  as  they  ought,  considering  the 
fact  that  we  could  not  furnish  pilots  as  fast  as  they  were 
needed  at  the  Front  unless  we  had  the  equipment  with 
which  to  do  it.  They  were  much  nearer  to  the  Front  than 
they  were  to  our  school,  however,  and  they  naturally  felt 
that  the  demands  of  the  Front  for  machines  and  spare  parts 


204  AN  EXPLORER 

should  take  precedence  over  ours.  In  general,  we  agreed  with 
them,  but  on  one  point,  namely,  our  supply  of  Spads,  we  al- 
ways felt  they  were  mistaken.  If  they  had  supplied  us  with 
an  adequate  quantity  of  the  machines  which  were  actually 
in  use  at  the  Front,  we  could  have  taught  our  pilots  to  avoid 
many  of  the  mistakes  which  caused  the  extraordinary  de- 
struction of  Spads  in  the  fighting  area.  However,  we  never 
succeeded  in  persuading  them  of  the  value  of  this  invest- 
ment Spads  were  destroyed  at  the  Front  so  rapidly  that 
there  was  never  any  surplus  left  to  send  to  the  schools,  so 
that  our  pilots  did  not  receive  their  final  instruction  in  the 
planes  which  they  were  actually  to  use  in  pursuit  squad- 
rons until  they  had  left  the  school  and  reached  active  squad- 
rons where  fighting  rather  than  teaching  was  the  principal 
matter  in  hand.  Naturally,  they  crashed  a  good  many,  and 
in  a  region  not  as  well  equipped  with  repair  shops  as  the 
Third  Aviation  Instruction  Centre.  We  should  have  been 
allowed  at  least  twenty-five  out  of  the  hundreds  that  were 
secured  from  the  French. 

Intermediate  Quartermaster  Depot  No.  5  was  located 
on  our  main  field,  and  was  in  charge  of  Major  Charles  W. 
Godfrey,  His  experience  in  successfully  feeding  thousands 
of  troops  in  New  England  during  the  first  year  of  the  war, 
when  he  was  in  the  Commissary  Branch  at  Boston,  stood 
him  in  good  stead.  He  came  to  us  at  a  time  when  provi- 
sions were  very  difficult  to  secure.  The  needs  of  our  rapidly 
growing  army  at  the  Front  had  to  be  met  first,  as  was  right 
and  proper,  but  that  did  not  make  it  any  easier  for  the  hard- 


Issoudun:  The  Main  Barracks,  the  "2","  the  Red  Cross 
and  the  Quartermaster  buildings 


i 

ZI^^HEI 

5>lJ«-* 

«v**.*--- 

^^gtt&F^^* 

-- — ,_! 

5    ^              j 

Issoudun:  Foreground:  Our  prize  bakery,  where  the  Q.  M.  turned out 

10,000  /oaw.9  of  fine  white  bread  daily 

Next  to  the  bakery  are  the  Q.  M.  warehouses.  In  the  distance,  at  the  left 

the  Hosfiital,  at  the  right  Headquarters 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  205 

working  mechanic  in  our  shops  and  hangars  to  go  hungry, 
or  to  be  denied  the  regular  supplies  of  food  and  clothing  as 
laid  down  in  army  regulations. 

Major  Godfrey,  by  his  wonderful  enthusiasm  and  self- 
sacrificing  attention  to  the  smallest  details,  and  also  by  his 
willingness  to  risk  official  displeasure  in  order  to  accom- 
plish ends  which  he  felt  were  justified  by  the  needs  of  our 
soldiers,  made  us  all  have  a  high  regard  for  the  Quarter- 
master Department  He  took  an  intense  and  personal  in- 
terest in  seeing  that  the  Mess  Sergeants  made  a  proper  use  of 
Government  rations,  that  the  cooks  understood  how  to  con- 
serve fuel  and  at  the  same  time  get  good  results  with  field 
ranges,  and  that  his  own  bakery,  which  turned  out  10,000 
loaves  of  excellent  bread  daily,  should  have  every  facility 
that  it  deserved.  He  also  saw  to  it  that  the  men  were  well 
shod.  Commanding  officers  of  outlying  fields  found  to  their 
surprise  and  delight  that  the  rules  which  our  Quartermaster 
found  it  necessary  to  make  were  intended  to  give  them  the 
best  possible  service,  and  that  whenever  these  rules  worked 
hardship,  a  word  from  them  resulted  in  prompt  changes. 

Major  Godfrey's  first  ride  in  an  airplane  was  at  night 
with  one  of  the  most  daring  pilots  of  our  night  pursuit 
group.  He  seemed  to  feel  that  his  experience  was  not  as  en- 
viable as  some  of  us  thought  it  ought  to  be.  He  never  was 
quite  sure  whether  the  twinkling  lights  which  he  saw  in  the 
darkness  were  stars  or  camp  lights.  He  insisted  that  it  was 
really  very  thrilling,  and  we  did  not  doubt  him,  for  we  knew 
the  pilot. 


206  AN  EXPLORER 

When  an  aviator  has  been  given  a  properly  tested  ma- 
chine, well  fitted  with  gas  and  oil,  when  he  is  suitably 
clothed,  fed,  paid,  and  housed,  he  thinks  he  is  ready  to  fly. 
Generally,  he  forgets  the  importance  of  medical  attendance 
until  "something  happens."  Camp  Hospital  No.  14  was 
located  in  the  main  camp.  It  was  under  the  direction  of 
Major  William  G.  Noe,  who  was  in  command  of  an  ade- 
quate force  of  surgeons  and  enlisted  men,  but  who  was 
inadequately  supplied  with  army  nurses  and  ambulances. 
There  were  some  500  beds  in  the  hospital.  At  the  time 
of  my  arrival,  about  one-third  of  them  were  occupied  by 
wounded  or  gassed  soldiers  from  the  Chateau -Thierry 
sector. 

When  the  "flu  "epidemic  struck  us,  strenuous  efforts  were 
made  to  combat  its  spread.  Our  barracks,  like  those  all  over 
France,  were  gready  crowded.  The  men  slept  in  bunks 
built  in  sections  of  four,  two  men  sleeping  on  the  upper 
tier  and  two  on  the  lower.  Orders  were  given  that  bunk- 
mates  must  sleep  head  to  foot,  and  not  side  by  side.  This 
immediately  lowered  the  rate  of  new  cases,  since  no  man, 
by  coughing  at  night,  could  infect  his  bunkie.  Rigid  rules 
were  enforced  regarding  keeping  barrack  windows  open 
in  all  sorts  of  weather.  Buckets  of  water  were  kept  on  the 
stoves  so  as  to  provide  a  moist  atmosphere,  the  use  of  com- 
mon drinking-cups  was  forbidden,  and  men  were  sent  to 
the  hospital  as  soon  as  they  gave  signs  of  having  a  cold. 
During  the  worst  of  the  epidemic,  we  were  admitting  to  the 
hospital  from  sixty  to  seventy-five  new  cases  a  day;  but  so 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  207 

skilfully  did  our  medical  officers  handle  the  situation,  that 
out  of  a  camp  containing  over  7000  men,  we  lost  only  thirty 
as  the  effects  of  the  "flu." 

It  was  a  most  fortunate  circumstance  for  my  adminis- 
tration of  the  Third  Aviation  Instruction  Centre  that  Colonel 
William  H.  Wilmer  and  his  Medical  Research  Board  ar- 
rived from  the  United  States  early  in  September.  I  will  admit 
that  when  a  telephone  message  came  from  the  Assistant 
Provost  Marshal  at  Issoudun  railway  station  announcing 
the  arrival  there  of  a  "dozen  Staff  Officers,"  visions  of  a 
visitation  from  G.  H.  Q.  for  purposes  of  inspection  filled  me 
with  dismay.  I  had  been  in  command  of  the  post  only  about 
a  week  or  ten  days,  yet  I  realized  how  many  adverse  criti- 
cisms could  be  made,  and  I  wished  that  these  General  Staff 
Officers  had  postponed  their  visit  until  a  little  later.  When 
our  new  arrivals  turned  out  to  be  Colonel  Wilmer  and  his 
staff,  dismay  was  changed  to  delight,  as  every  one  will  real- 
ize who  had  an  opportunity  to  become  acquainted  with  that 
most  distinguished  member  of  the  medical  profession  and 
his  friends. 

In  the  United  States  it  had  been  found  advisable  to  appoint 
so-called  "flight  surgeons"  at  each  of  the  flying  schools. 
These  men  had  been  carefully  trained  in  the  pioneer  labo- 
ratories at  Mineola  and  were  familiar  with  the  latest  results 
of  research  into  the  physiology  and  psychology  of  the  pilot 
Not  only  did  they  learn  the  effects  of  thin  air  on  his  reactions 
and  what  might  be  expected  to  happen  to  any  individ- 
ual pilot  through  lack  of  sufficient  oxygen,  but  they  also  had 


208  AN  EXPLORER 

studied  most  thoroughly  the  special  physical  characteristics 
of  those  who  found  it  difficult  or  impossible  to  learn  to  fly. 
Many  of  the  specialists  who  had  taught  these  flight  sur- 
geons were  on  the  Medical  Research  Board  which  was  now 
established  at  our  camp.  They  came  provided  with  the  very 
latest  apparatus,  and  with  special  instruments  intended  to 
facilitate  the  physiological  determination  of  a  student's  apti- 
tude for  aviation. 

Two  members  of  the  Board  were  asked  to  serve  on  all 
investigations  connected  with  serious  accidents  to  our  pilots. 
Their  skill  and  knowledge  soon  brought  out  the  fact  that 
the  majority  of  accidents  were  caused  by  defects  in  the  phy- 
sical condition  of  the  pilots.  To  be  sure,  a  number  of  acci- 
dents are  always  traceable  to  apparent  disobedience  to  or- 
ders. Sometimes  the  disobedience  is  direct  and  unequivocal, 
as  when  two  brilliant  pilots,  arriving  in  the  course  of  their 
instruction  at  the  combat  field,  decide  to  disobey  instructions 
and,  disregarding  all  caution,  display  their  ability  by  com- 
bating at  a  low  elevation.  This  experiment  sometimes  re- 
sulted disastrously. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  is  another  type  of  disobedience 
of  orders  which  is  due  to  physical  condition  rather  than  to 
moral  or  mental  delinquency.  This  arises  when  a  pilot  is 
told  to  go  to  a  certain  altitude,  stall  his  machine  into  a  spin- 
ning nose  dive,  and  then  put  all  of  his  controls  into  neutral. 
If  these  instructions  are  obeyed,  the  airplane  automatically 
comes  out  of  the  spin  and  into  a  steep  straight  glide  from 
which  the  pilot  can  easily  proceed  to  recover  control  with- 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  209 

out  endangering  himself  or  his  ship.  Occasionally,  however, 
it  was  apparent  to  the  instructors  that  the  pilot  disregarded 
his  orders  and  failed  to  put  his  controls  into  neutral,  thereby 
causing  the  plane  to  stay  in  the  spin  until  it  crashed  to  the 
ground. 

The  experiments  of  the  Medical  Research  Board,  and 
particularly  those  conducted  by  Lieutenant-Colonel  Henry 
Horn,  demonstrated  with  unerring  fidelity  that  those  pilots 
who  reacted  improperly  after  being  spun  in  a  swivel  chair 
were  physically  unable  to  carry  out  their  instructions.  When 
they  attempted  to  thrust  the  joy  stick  forward  into  a  neutral 
position,  they  actually  pushed  it  to  one  side  so  that  the  aile- 
ron controls  were  not  in  neutral.  On  the  other  hand,  Colonel 
Horn  discovered  by  a  thorough  examination  of  our  best 
pilots,  including  those  who  by  reason  of  their  great  skill 
had  been  chosen  as  instructors  or  as  testers  of  new  machines, 
that  they  were  able  to  react  perfectly  to  the  tests  of  the  whirl- 
ing chair.  Not  only  did  they  overcome  the  effects  of  this 
dizziness  in  one-third  or  one-half  the  time  required  by  an 
average  person  (and  thereby  place  themselves  in  the  class 
of  whirling  dervishes),  they  also  had  no  difficulty  in  imme- 
diately putting  the  controls  in  neutral,  notwithstanding  the 
effects  of  a  prolonged  spinning  in  the  chair. 

So  firmly  did  I  believe  in  the  ability  of  the  Research 
Board  to  prevent  accidents  due  to  inherent  defects  in  the 
physique  of  the  aviator,  that  instructions  were  given  to 
place  in  the  hands  of  incoming  pilots  an  article  by  Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Rowntree,  who  was  Colonel  Wilmer's  right- 


210  AN  EXPLORER 

hand  man.  This  article  urged  frequent  consultation  of  the 
Medical  Research  Board  by  flyers  who  were  feeling  ill,  or 
"  not  feeling  fit,"  or  feeling  insecure  in  their  work,  or  when 
their  flying  records  were  poor,  or  after  an  accident.  Instruc- 
tors were  directed  to  consult  the  Board  whenever  they  saw 
that  their  students  were  in  one  of  the  above  classes,  or  when- 
ever they  themselves  desired  information  as  to  the  type  of 
work  for  which  a  flyer  was  best  suited,  so  far  as  this  could 
be  determined  by  physical  examination. 

Considering  how  many  delays  the  flying  cadets  had  suf- 
fered in  the  past  and  how  many  handicaps  they  had  had 
to  overcome  in  their  efforts  to  get  to  the  Front  speedily,  it 
was  not  surprising  that  some  of  them  regarded  the  Med- 
ical Research  Board  with  suspicion.  They  soon  came  to 
realize,  however,  that  it  was  the  object  of  Colonel  Wilmer 
and  his  colleagues,  especially  the  flight  surgeon,  Major  R. 
R.  Hampton,  to  assist  pilots  to  become  more  efficient,  and 
not  to  remove  them  from  the  flying  list. 

We  all  of  us  came  to  the  conclusion  that  it  was  not  fair 
either  for  the  army  or  for  the  pilot  himself,  that  he  should 
assume  unnecessary  risks.  Ordinary  risks  were  great  enough 
in  all  conscience,  but  the  danger  was  much  increased  when 
those  attempted  to  fly  who  were  not  fit  We  endeavored  to 
impress  on  our  pilots  the  fact  that  they  could  not  expect  to 
be  successful  in  the  air  unless  they  kept  themselves  fit.  They 
were  urged  to  go  to  bed  early  and  to  get  at  least  eight  hours 
of  sleep.  We  made  every  effort  to  see  that  all  pilots  took  some 
physical  exercise  daily.  Although  the  flyer  is  out  of  doors  a 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  211 

great  deal,  his  occupation  is  actually  a  sedentary  one,  and  far 
more  fatiguing  to  his  nerves  than  to  his  body,  so  it  was  all 
the  more  important  to  encourage  outdoor  sports.  Each  field 
commander  was  requested  to  report  at  officers'  meeting  each 
day  how  much  exercise  had  been  taken  in  the  preceding 
twenty-four  hours  by  the  pilots  under  his  command.  It  was 
significant  that  the  fields  which  did  the  best  work  found 
the  most  time  for  exercise,  or  took  it  in  the  most  violent  form. 

Colonel  Rowntree  reported  that  a  large  number  of  flyers 
consulted  the  Board  for  digestive  disturbances.  The  ladies 
of  the  American  Red  Cross  also  reported  that  the  instruc- 
tors who  flew  a  great  deal  seemed  to  be  frequently  "off  their 
feed,"  while  others  had  abnormal  appetites  and  ate  five  or 
six  meals  a  day.  The  Medical  Research  Board  came  to  the 
belief,  after  a  careful  study  of  the  food  problem,  that  avia- 
tors should  avoid  heavy  foods  in  the  early  part  of  the  day. 
Sugar  and  starches,  breads,  cereals,  fruits,  and  vegetables 
were  advised,  even  though  these  constituted  but  a  small  part 
of  the  regular  army  ration.  Heavy  foods,  such  as  meats  and 
fats,  which  have  been  proved  by  experience  to  be  essential 
for  infantry  and  other  troops  engaged  in  heavy  manual 
labor,  were  recommended  in  great  moderation.  It  was  par- 
ticularly advised  that  such  foods  should  not  be  eaten  until 
after  the  day's  flying  was  over. 

An  aviator's  life  is  very  abnormal.  A  student  aviator  crowds 
such  tremendous  experiences  into  such  a  small  portion  of  the 
day,  he  is  so  frequently  left  with  plenty  of  time  on  his  hands, 
albeit  greatly  fatigued  by  unusual  nervous  strains,  that  there 


212  AN  EXPLORER 

is  no  question  which  worries  the  commanding  officer  of  a 
flying  field  more  than  the  development  of  proper  habits  by 
his  student  pilots.  In  the  tropics,  where  men  get  fatigued 
easily  and  have  more  leisure  than  they  do  in  the  temperate 
zone,  I  have  noticed  a  strong  tendency  toward  intemperance. 
Not  only  intemperance  as  regards  the  use  of  alcohol,  but 
intemperance  in  other  things,  including  gambling  and  the 
use  of  cigarettes.  The  same  is  true  on  a  flying  field,  with  this 
difference,  that  indulgence  in  bad  habits  is  likely  to  cause 
errors  in  judgment  that  lead  to  fatal  accidents  in  the  air. 

So  much  of  a  pilot's  work  is  done  alone,  so  deeply  must 
he  draw  on  his  own  powers  of  endurance  and  self-respect, 
that  he  particularly  needs  the  kind  of  cheer  that  comes  in 
Letters  from  Home.  Irregularity  in  the  delivery  of  mail 
matter  was  not  confined  to  the  Air  Service.  Every  one  in 
the  A.  E.  F.  suffered  from  it  more  or  less.  One  day  a  letter 
would  arrive  that  was  only  three  weeks  old.  This  would  be 
followed  a  few  days  later  by  one  a  month  old,  and  then  on 
the  next  mail  would  arrive  two  that  were  six  weeks  old.  Of 
course  the  difficulties  were  enormous,  and  the  suffering  was 
not  serious,  in  most  cases. 

At  Christmas  time  the  mail  service  seemed  to  improve, 
and  our  standard  packages,  "9x4x3  inches,  weighing 
not  more  than  3  pounds,"  must  have  been  given  special  con- 
sideration, for  a  large  percentage  of  them  were  only  a  month 
en  route.  They  had  to  be  mailed  in  the  United  States  before 
the  20th  of  November,  and  most  of  them  arrived  before  the 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  213 

25th  of  December.  One  day  a  member  of  die  staff  brought 
in  a  letter  to  Santa  Claus,  but  did  not  tell  me  who  wrote  it  It 
contained  the  following  paragraphs  : 

Dear  Santa  : 

If  you  happen  to  have  anything  lying  around  loose  that  doesn't 
weigh  more  than  three  pounds,  and  which  isn't  more  than  nine  inches 
long,  four  inches  wide,  and  three  inches  thick,  it  will  get  to  me  all 
right  if  you  will  paste  the  enclosed  coupon  on  it  and  mail  it  at  your 
own  post  office.  I  think  that  would  be  better  than  to  try  to  bring  it 
over  with  your  reindeers. 

I  'm  not  saying  that  your  reindeers  are  n't  good  ones,  you  under- 
stand. I  never  saw  better  ones.  But  some  folks  are  likely  to  be  mis- 
led by  the  size  of  those  packages.  A  package  9  X  4  X  3  is  a  litde  thing, 
not  as  large  as  two  bricks,  and  it  would  n't  hurt  you  half  as  much 
if  it  fell  on  your  head.  But  if  you  figure  out  the  bulk  for  two  million 
people  you  '11  see  that  it  is  nothing  to  be  sneezed  at,  even  by  your 
reindeers,  no  matter  how  well  they  can  sneeze. 

Two  million  of  those  packages  placed  end  to  end  would  make 
a  string  284  miles,  29  rods,  1  foot  and  6  inches  long.  Leaving  out 
the  jog  where  the  toolshed  stands,  they  would  make  a  pile  three  feet 
deep  all  over  my  Dad's  farm.  They  would  fill  100  good  sized  freight 
cars.  It  would  take  a  good  team  of  reindeers  eight  years  to  haul  them 
from  Morestown  to  Lake  City.  If  you  could  put  one  of  those  pack- 
ages down  a  chimney  every  minute,  and  worked  eight  hours  a  night 
at  the  job,  it  would  take  you  11  years,  1  month,  21  days,  5  hours, 
and  20  minutes  to  get  rid  of  them  all. 

Nevertheless,  the  idea  was  an  excellent  one.  It  did  away  with 
the  likelihood  of  overcrowding  the  mails  with  cumbersome 
and  perhaps  useless  "gifts,"  and  it  brought  good  cheer  to  an 
enormous  number  of  those  who  were  thinking  that  it  would 
be  nice  to  have  Christmas  at  home. 


214  AN  EXPLORER 

Finally,  nothing  helped  toward  the  success  of  the  Third 
Aviation  Instruction  Centre  more  than  the  American  Red 
Cross.  As  early  as  October  3, 1917,  Miss  Irene  Givenwilson 
and  a  few  other  ladies  from  the  Red  Cross  stepped  off  into 
the  "sea  of  mud"  and  took  possession  of  a  small  section  in 
one  of  the  three  barracks.  They  opened  a  temporary  can- 
teen, and  were  soon  cheering  the  men  with  hot  coffee  and 
sandwiches. 

From  this  little  beginning  the  Red  Cross  gradually  grew 
until  its  rooms  and  buildings  covered  nearly  an  acre  of  our 
camp.  The  men  who  spent  the  terrible  winter  of  1917-18 
at  the  post  were  all  unanimous  in  their  opinion  that  the 
Red  Cross  did  more  to  keep  up  their  spirits  than  any  other 
agency.  The  influence  of  those  splendid  Christian  women, 
the  cheering  smiles  with  which  they  greeted  all  comers,  the 
tremendous  energy  which  led  them  to  work  from  early 
morning  until  late  at  night  at  whatever  job  came  to  hand, 
did  more  to  keep  pure  Americanism  alive  in  that  corner  of 
France  than  everything  else  put  together. 

Among  other  things  the  Red  Cross  erected  a  laundry,  a 
barber  shop,  and  a  comfortable  bath  house.  By  taking  turns, 
the  squadrons  would  get  hot  showers  at  least  once  a  week.  A 
tailoring  and  repair  shop  were  greatly  appreciated  by  the 
hundreds  of  flying  officers  and  enlisted  men.  A  technical 
library  and  an  officers'  club  were  early  established.  Miss 
Givenwilson,  Miss  Amy  Brewer,  Miss  Gertrude  Hussey, 
and  Miss  Potter  were  chiefly  responsible  for  creating  this 
little  bit  of  the  homeland  where  kind  words  and  encouraging 


Extra!    Extra! 


On  Active  Service  tlov  ember,  II,  1918 


HOSTILITIES  CEASED! 


Armistice  Between    Fighting  Armies  Effective  at 
Eleven  O'clock  This  Morning 


TRAINING  OF  PILOTS  HERE  WILL  CONTINUE  WITHOUT  INTERRUPTION 

Hostilities  between  the  Allies  and  Germany  have 
temporarily  ceased  according  to  official  an- 
nouncement from  American  Headquarters.  Here 
is  the  announcement. 

American  Official  Communique,  Nov.  11, 1918. 

In  accordance  with  the  terms  of  the 
Armistice,  hostilities  on  the  fronts  of 
the  American  Armies  were  suspended 
at  11  o'clock  this  morning. 

Rec'd  at  1:50  p.  m. 

NO   STOPPING  HEFUE 


This  does  not  mean  that  the  War  is  over.  It 
means  that  a  temporary  truce  has  been  deolared. 
The  War  may  be  resumed  and  it  may  not.  But 
the  American  Army  is  taking  no  chances.  Train- 
ing of  All  branches  of  the  service  will  continue 
■without  interruption. 

Here  at  the  3rd  A.  I.  C.  student  officers  will  be 


trained  as  heretofore,  the  only  difference  being 
that  more  time  will  be  spent  on  their  training  and 
physical  care. 

The  number  of  Aviators,  according  to  the  Gen- 
eral Staff,  is  insufficient  for  the  size  of  our  Armies. 
If  hostilities  should  be  resumed  this  evil  will  >• 
remedied. 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  215 

smiles  for  each  soldier  could  be  had  for  the  asking.  They 
were  well  assisted  by  a  score  of  others,  rays  of  sunshine  in 
a  dark  valley.  After  the  departure  of  the  veterans,  the  work 
was  ably  carried  on  by  Mrs.  Elsie  Cobb  Wilson  and  Miss 
Peck,  who  were  most  successful  in  alleviating  those  severe 
attacks  of  the  blues  and  homesickness  which  afflicted  so 
many  of  our  men  after  the  Armistice  was  signed  and  before 
orders  came  to  leave  for  the  port  of  embarkation. 

A  few  days  before  Christmas  a  very  welcome  present  in 
the  shape  of  the  following  letter  came  from  General  Patrick, 
the  head  of  the  American  Air  Service  in  France. 


AMERICAN  EXPEDITIONARY  FORCES 

U.  S.  AIR  SERVICE,  PARIS 
OFFICE  OF  CHIEF  OF  AIR  SERVICE 

17th  December,  1918 

LlEUTENANT-CoLONEL  HlRAM  BlNGHAM, 

Commanding'  Officer,  Issoudun 

My  dear  Colonel  Bingham: 

As  the  school  at  Issoudun  is  about  to  close  you  will  soon  be  re- 
lieved from  your  present  duty  as  its  Commanding  Officer  and  re- 
turned to  the  United  States.  Before  your  departure  I  desire  to  place 
on  record  my  hearty  appreciation  of  the  excellent  work  you  did  while 
in  command  of  this,  our  largest  training  centre  in  France.  The  results 
achieved  speak  for  themselves  and  evidence  the  interest  you  took  iq 
your  work  and  your  power  to  inspire  those  who  were  working  with 
you. 

May  I  add  that  I  was  just  about  to  recommend  your  promotion 
when  the  Armistice  came  and  all  advancement  was  stopped.  While 


216  AN  EXPLORER 

it  was  thus  impossible  to  bestow  upon  you  this  well  earned  evidence 
of  work  well  done,  I  want  you  to  be  assured  that  in  my  opinion  it 
was  your  due. 

Very  truly  yours, 

{Signed}  Mason  M.  Patrick, 

Major-General^  U.  S.  A. 

Chief  of  Air  Service 

I  sent  a  copy  of  this  letter  to  Colonel  Robert  M.  Danford, 
then  Brigadier-General,  who  had  been  my  commanding 
officer  in  the  days  of  the  "Yale  Batteries"  at  Tobyhanna. 
It  was  to  his  remarkable  ability  as  a  military  instructor 
that  any  success  I  may  have  had  at  Issoudun  was  due. 

On  Christmas  Day  my  orders  came  to  go  home,  the  best 
present  any  one  could  ask  for.  The  next  day  I  left  Issoudun 
and,  on  January  1,  1919,  sailed  from  St.  Nazaire. 

After  a  few  weeks  of  duty  in  the  office  of  the  Director 
of  Military  Aeronautics  in  Washington,  I  received  my  dis- 
charge on  March  8,  1919,  just  two  years  from  the  time  I 
began  to  fly  in  Miami. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

SHOULD  THE   GENERAL  STAFF  CONTROL  THE 
AIR   SERVICE? 

THE  wisdom  of  a  General  Staff  must  always  depend 
on  two  things :  first,  the  practical  experience,  in  the 
field,  of  the  officers  composing  it,  and  second,  their  studies 
of  the  accumulated  wisdom  gained  in  previous  wars.  In  the 
American  Air  Service  in  1917-18,  we  received  no  help 
from  anything  of  this  kind.  While  probably  every  officer  of 
the  General  Staff  had  had  practical  experience  in  handling 
infantry,  in  the  care  of  cavalry,  in  the  use  of  artillery,  or 
in  the  building  of  roads  and  bridges,  not  one  of  them  knew 
the  nervous  fatigue  of  piloting  an  airplane  or  how  it  feels  to 
have  engine  failure  over  wooded,  hilly  country,  or  the  diffi- 
culties of  aerial  observation  when  the  air  is  blowing  by  at 
a  hundred  miles  an  hour! 

They  had  been  able  to  assimilate  the  wisdom  of  centuries 
regarding  the  requirements  of  a  foot-soldier — what  food, 
clothing,  and  discipline  best  met  his  needs.  They  had  been 
able  similarly  to  secure  centuries  of  experience  with  mounted 
soldiers  and  knew  the  needs  of  cavalry,  but  they  had  no 
experience  to  guide  them  in  making  adequate  rules  for  the 
care,  training,  and  discipline  of  aviators  or  aviation  mechan- 
ics. The  science  of  aeronautics  and  the  art  of  flying  were 
too  recent  to  have  received  the  attention  they  deserved  from 
the  older  and  wiser  heads  on  the  General  Staff. 

When  I  went  on  duty  in  Washington  in  May,  1917, 1 
took  it  for  granted  that  the  War  Department  had  carefully 


218  AN  EXPLORER 

considered  how  to  utilize  an  Air  Service  to  the  fullest  ex- 
tent It  was  amazing  and  very  disconcerting  to  learn  that 
the  General  Staff  of  the  Army  had  apparently  made  no  plans 
for  the  part  which  aviation  was  to  take  in  the  war.  The  pro- 
gramme of  studies  outlined  for  the  first  Officers'  Training 
Camps  contained  no  reference  to  the  Air  Service.  The  War 
College  had  published  some  useful  pamphlets,  copied  from 
the  French  and  British,  on  cooperation  with  artillery.  Yet, 
so  far  as  I  could  discover,  no  effort  was  made  to  teach  our 
thousands  of  new  officers  anything  about  the  progress  that 
aviation  had  made  on  the  Western  Front  during  1916,  nor 
what  they  might  expect  the  Air  Service  to  do,  nor  how  to 
communicate  with  airplanes  by  ground  panels,  nor  what  the 
proper  function  of  the  Air  Service  was. 

The  newspapers  at  that  time  were  full  of  exciting  stories 
of  the  aerial  combats  and  victories  of  the  Lafayette  Squad- 
ron. From  what  I  could  learn  by  conversation  with  our  line 
officers,  these  aerial  combats  constituted  the  spectacular,  and 
bombing  planes  the  useful,  end  of  the  Air  Service.  Observa- 
tion squadrons  and  liaison  with  artillery  and  infantry  were 
practically  unknown  to  the  average  line  officer. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  there  was  equal  unpreT 
paredness  in  many  other  branches  of  the  Service.  Still,  it 
must  never  cease  to  be  a  source  of  amazement  to  our  de- 
scendants that,  while  the  great  nations  of  the  world  had 
been  fighting  for  their  lives  for  two  years  and  a  half,  and 
ordinary  common  sense  would  have  seemed  to  have  dictated 
the  necessity  of  preparing  for  the  day  when  we,  too,  should 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  219 

get  thrown  into  the  gigantic  conflict,  so  little  should  have 
been  done  of  what  is  known  as  "General  Staff*  Work." 

We  did  not  know  until  we  had  been  at  war  for  several 
months  what  kind  of  airplanes  we  were  going  to  use,  how 
many  we  should  need,  how  many  flying  schools  we  were 
going  to  have,  where  they  were  to  be,  what  were  the  best 
locations,  what  system  of  training  was  to  be  followed,  or 
how  many  men  we  were  to  train.  So  little  thought  had  been 
given  to  the  matter,  and  so  small  had  been  our  conception  of 
the  probable  number  of  pilots,  that,  for  several  months  after 
we  entered  the  war,  the  bulletins  of  the  War  Department 
referred  to  in  an  earlier  chapter  offered  commissions  as  First 
Lieutenants  to  those  who  could  pass  the  examinations  for 
Reserve  Military  Aviator.  The  law  provided  an  increase 
in  grade  to  those  who  could  pass  the  more  severe  tests  of 
Junior  Military  Aviator.  As  it  seemed  obvious  that  no  one 
should  be  sent  to  the  Front  who  was  not  a  fully  and  com- 
pletely trained  military  aviator,  many  of  our  ambitious 
young  pilots  believed  that  by  the  time  they  were  ready  to 
fly  over  the  lines,  they  would  rank  as  Captains. 

When  the  provision  for  granting  increased  rank  and  pay 
to  aviators  was  passed  by  Congress,  it  was  thought  ne- 
cessary to  offer  these  inducements  on  account  of  the  extreme 
danger  of  the  service,  and  the  high  mortality  among  the 
best  known  aviators  in  this  country  during  the  years  1910- 
12.  It  was  felt  that  any  one  who  was  willing  to  undertake 
this  dangerous  training  ought  to  be  specially  rewarded. 
As  long  as  we  had  an  Air  Service  consisting  of  one  fly- 


220  AN  EXPLORER 

ing  school  and  a  small  assortment  of  experimental  airplanes, 
a  few  of  which  could  fly  a  short  distance,  the  provision  was 
undoubtedly  wise.  But  when  we  were  faced  with  the  ne- 
cessity of  having  several  hundred  pilots,  and  the  probability 
of  having  several  thousand,  it  might  have  been  foreseen  by 
an  adequately  prepared  General  Staff  that  the  bulletins  in- 
viting young  men  to  enter  the  Air  Service  should  not  make 
it  appear  that  it  was  our  plan  to  flood  the  Air  Service  with 
Captains.  Only  Central  American  armies  are  supposed  to 
have  an  excess  of  rank  at  the  top. 

Most  of  the  aviators  in  the  French  service  were  non- 
coms,  although  they  enjoyed  the  social  privileges  of  officers. 
Many  of  the  aviators  in  the  German  Air  Service  were  non- 
commissioned officers,  although  the  observers  were  nearly 
always  officers.  In  the  British  Air  Service,  practically  all 
pilots  were  commissioned  officers,  and  it  was  felt  that  the 
splendid  morale  of  the  Royal  Flying  Corps  and  the  remark- 
able record  which  its  pilots  had  made  on  the  Western  Front 
in  1916  were  due  largely  to  this  fact 

The  American  Air  Service  adopted  the  last  plan.  General 
Pershing,  however,  soon  came  to  the  belief  that  the  rank  of 
second  lieutenant  was  high  enough  for  most  of  his  pilots; 
yet  until  October,  1917,  there  was  no  provision  by  law  for 
second  lieutenants  in  the  Signal  Corps.  Consequently,  the 
tens  of  thousands  of  young  men  whose  applications  poured 
in  during  the  first  six  months  of  the  war  had  every  right 
to  believe  that  when  they  passed  their  tests,  they  would 
become  first  lieutenants.  Most  of  them,  furthermore,  natu- 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  221 

rally  expected  to  be  able,  before  long,  to  pass  the  Junior 
Military  Aviator  test  and  become  captains.  The  fact  is  that 
the  exigencies  of  the  Service  and  General  Pershing's  re- 
fusal to  permit  any  except  regular  officers  of  the  permanent 
establishment  to  take  the  Junior  Military  Aviator  test  re- 
sulted, as  has  been  pointed  out,  in  great  disappointment  and 
much  loss  of  morale  among  what  had  been  the  most  en- 
thusiastic and  keenest  group  of  young  men  in  the  army. 

Logically,  of  course,  it  was  not  to  be  expected  that  our 
squadrons  would  be  composed  chiefly  of  captains.  It  would 
have  been  bad  for  the  rest  of  the  army  and  bad  for  the  men 
themselves,  had  such  an  event  occurred.  In  fact,  it  was  so 
obviously  ridiculous  that  it  became  all  the  more  regrettable 
and  almost  inexplicable  that  the  War  Department  should 
have  for  so  many  months  offered  First  Lieutenancies  to  all 
those  who  could  pass  the  easy  Reserve  Military  Aviator  test 
Perhaps  it  is  true  that  this  is  only  one  of  many  instances 
in  which  our  persistent  refusal  to  prepare  for  war  led  us 
into  making  serious  blunders,  but  there  was  none  which 
caused  more  unhappiness  or  greater  loss  of  esprit  de  corps. 

The  situation  as  far  as  it  concerns  extra  "flying  pay"  is 
quite  different.  The  statement  is  frequently  made  by  old 
army  officers  that  in  time  of  war  aviation  is  no  more  danger- 
ous than  any  other  branch  of  the  Service.  There  was  a  strong 
effort  on  the  part  of  General  Pershing  and  the  General  Staff 
to  persuade  Congress  of  this  during  the  early  part  of  1918, 
and  to  alter  the  law  so  that  Military  Aviators  would  not 
receive  an  increase  either  in  pay  or  grade.  The  Military 


222  AN  EXPLORER 

Affairs  Committee  of  the  Senate  refused  to  consider  the  pro- 
posal, but  General  Pershing  achieved  his  purpose  so  far  as 
France  was  concerned  by  refusing  to  permit  any  reserve  or 
temporary  officer  to  take  the  examinations  for  Junior  Mili- 
tary Aviator.  For  many  months  he  also  refused  to  issue  the 
orders  necessary  to  place  pilots  "on  flying  duty,"  thereby 
preventing  them  from  getting  even  the  25  per  cent  increase 
in  pay  that  was  permitted  to  Reserve  Military  Aviators. 
Later  on  this  was  changed,  although  with  evident  reluc- 
tance. 

Since  the  grade  of  Junior  Military  Aviator  carried  with 
it  an  increase  in  pay  of  50  per  cent,  and  the  grade  of  Mili- 
tary Aviator,  attainable  after  three  years  as  a  Junior  Mili- 
tary Aviator  or  for  distinguished  service  at  the  Front,  carried 
an  increase  in  pay  of  75  per  cent,  there  was  naturally  a  great 
deal  of  resentment  felt  by  the  pilots  who  were  doing  the 
most  flying  against  the  relatively  few  regular  officers  whose 
administrative  duties  prevented  them  from  flying  more  than 
just  enough  to  warrant  them  in  drawing  their  flying  pay, 
but  who,  through  their  grade  as  Junior  Military  Aviator  or 
Military  Aviator,  were  paid  two  or  three  times  as  much  for 
the  small  risks  they  ran  as  were  the  ordinary  pilots  who 
were  taking  their  lives  in  their  hands  every  day. 

Had  General  Pershing  and  the  General  Staff  contented 
themselves  with  asking  that  the  law  be  changed  regarding 
the  increase  in  rank,  and  explained  the  disadvantages  of 
having  too  many  high  ranking  young  pilots,  there  would 
probably  have  been  no  objections  raised;  but  when  the  Mili- 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  223 

tary  Affairs  Committee  learned  from  foreign  flying  officers 
on  duty  in  Washington  that  both  the  French  and  British 
Governments  gave  extra  pay  to  their  pilots,  the  insistence  on 
the  part  of  the  General  Staff  that  pilots  did  not  run  unusual 
risks  met  with  unanimous  disapproval.  It  was  only  one  of 
the  results  of  that  lack  of  expert  knowledge  of  military  aero- 
nautics and  lack  of  sympathy  with  the  difficulties  of  avia- 
tion which  pervaded  the  General  Staff  during  1917-18. 

Speaking  of  risks,  it  may  be  of  interest  to  refer  to  my  own 
experience.  My  first  instructor  in  an  army  machine  was 
Captain  Roger  Jannus,  a  pilot  of  long  experience,  great  skill, 
and  remarkable  devotion  to  duty.  He  was  killed  while  in  the 
course  of  a  practice  combat  near  Field  8  at  Issoudun.  His 
machine  caught  fire  in  the  air,  probably  from  a  gasoline 
tank  which  had  become  leaky  owing  to  the  strains  and  con- 
tortions of  combat  flying.  Captain  Jannus  was  too  experi- 
enced a  pilot  to  have  taken  up  an  imperfect  machine,  and 
no  one  could  have  foreseen  the  accident  which  happened  to 
him  after  he  had  been  combatting  with  an  instructor  about 
three-quarters  of  an  hour.  My  second  instructor  was  Cap- 
tain H.  Taylor,  who  was  the  officer  in  charge  of  flying  at 
Mineola  when  I  went  there  to  take  my  Reserve  Military 
Aviator  tests  in  August,  1917.  He  was  a  very  experienced 
pilot  and  devoted  to  his  work.  I  had  not  been  flying  at  Min- 
eola but  a  few  days  when  he  was  killed  while  giving  a  lesson 
in  spiralling  to  the  pupil  whose  turn  immediately  preceded 
mine.  The  student  was  seriously  injured,  but  eventually 
recovered.  It  was  an  extremely  hot  day,  and  I  have  since 


224  AN  EXPLORER 

had  occasion  to  notice  that  accidents  in  the  air  always  in- 
crease during  extremely  hot  weather,  possibly  as  the  result 
of  fainting  or  vertigo. 

My  third  instructor  at  Issoudun  was  more  fortunate,  and 
lived  to  achieve  a  brilliant  record  at  the  Front  My  fourth 
instructor,  Lieutenant  Ott,  was  killed  at  Issoudun,  while 
endeavoring  to  bring  his  ship  out  of  a  dangerous  position 
into  which  it  had  been  thrown  by  an  inexperienced  stu- 
dent in  the  back  seat.  My  fifth  instructor,  and  the  one  who 
succeeded  by  his  patience  and  skill  in  giving  me  a  sense 
of  confidence  in  the  tricky  Nieuport  23,  was  Lieutenant 
Blanchard.  He  was  an  unusually  painstaking  pilot,  a  faith- 
ful instructor,  and  a  very  competent  aviator.  After  several 
months  of  teaching  at  Issoudun,  he  was  sent  to  the  gunnery 
school  at  St  Jean  des  Monts  to  perfect  himself  in  actual 
firing  before  going  to  the  Front,  but  was  killed  by  being 
thrown  from  his  machine  when  diving  at  a  target.  When 
it  is  remembered  that  these  men  who  gave  their  lives  at 
flying  schools  were  not  beginners,  or  poorly  trained  pilots, 
but  experts  in  the  art  of  flying,  it  seems  incredible  that  any 
one  should  begrudge  the  pilot  his  additional  pay. 

A  recent  article  in  the  Philadelphia  Press  calls  atten- 
tion to  the  very  heavy  loss  suffered  by  the  French  Air  Ser- 
vice. During  the  four  years  of  the  war  nearly  2000  French 
pilots  and  observers  were  killed  at  the  Front;  1500  "disap- 
peared," which  means  that  some  were  killed,  others  were 
taken  prisoners ;  nearly  3000  were  injured,  and  about  2000 
rvere  killed  while  on  duty  at  school  or  depot  in  the  Zone  of 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  225 

the  Interior.  On  the  day  of  the  Armistice,  the  French  Air 
Service  had  about  13,000  available  pilots  and  observers. 
The  very  heavy  proportion  of  losses  compared  to  the  size 
.  of  the  service  is  self-evident. 

It  is  an  interesting  commentary  on  human  nature  and  on 
the  utility  of  a  combined  civilian  and  military  control  over 
the  army  that  the  members  of  the  Senate  Military  Affairs 
Committee,  none  of  whom  were  flyers,  should  have  been 
more  ready  to  sympathize  with  the  Army  Aviator  than  were 
the  officers  of  the  General  Staff. 

Not  only  in  rank  and  pay,  but  also  in  such  minor  mat- 
ters as  spurs  and  blouses,  was  the  General  Staff's  attitude 
shown.  As  has  already  been  stated  in  a  previous  chapter, 
during  the  first  year  of  our  participation  in  the  war,  the 
General  Staff  insisted  that  an  aviator  who  wore  boots  must 
wear  spurs  as  well  as  wings !  At  last  the  humor  of  it  struck 
somebody,  and  aviators  were  allowed  for  a  few  months  to 
wear  boots  without  spurs.  This  was  too  much  for  the  old 
cavalry  officers,  however,  and  in  December,  19 18,  the  former 
rule  was  restored ! 

As  regards  the  blouse,  we  made  many  efforts  to  be  al- 
lowed to  wear  a  coat  made  with  a  collar  that  was  safe  and 
comfortable,  like  those  worn  by  Allied  aviators.  Our  naval 
aviators  were  successful.  We  had  not  been  at  war  more  than 
three  months  before  they  secured  the  authorization  of  an  at- 
tractive and  sensible  uniform  with  roll  collar  and  appropriate 
insignia,  a  uniform  several  times  referred  to  by  foreign  offi- 
cers in  my  presence  as  the  smartest  uniform  in  Europe,  and 


226  AN  EXPLORER 

one  that  undoubtedly  gave  the  naval  flyers  additional  pres- 
tige and  improved  morale.  Notwithstanding  the  promptness 
of  the  navy  in  realizing  that  the  aviators  could  not  be  ex- 
pected to  be  either  comfortable  or  efficient  in  a  high-stand- 
ing collar,  the  General  Staff  of  the  army  absolutely  refused 
to  permit  the  military  aviator  any  deviation  from  the  snug 
fitting  neck-band  which  helps  the  infantry  soldier  to  stand 
stiffly  erect  on  parade. 

Our  uniform  was  designed  for  the  kind  of  fighting  that 
the  American  Army  had  been  accustomed  to  on  the  Mexican 
border  and  in  the  Philippines.  Nothing  could  be  more  effec- 
tive for  that  sort  of  fighting  than  our  service  hat  and  the 
thick  flannel  shirt.  In  France,  however,  it  was  necessary  to 
fight  in  a  blouse  or  coat,  although  this  had  been  designed 
chiefly  to  be  worn  on  parade.  Even  the  old  conservative  staff 
officers  could  see  that  it  was  impossible  to  wear  our  service 
hat  under  the  very  necessary  steel  helmet,  so  the  sacred  hat 
was  soon  given  up  in  favor  of  a  cloth  cap.  Why  a  more  com- 
fortable form  of  blouse  was  not  provided  for  the  ground 
troops,  I  do  not  know.  That  it  was  denied  to  aviators  was 
undoubtedly  due  to  the  fact  that  no  members  of  the  Gen- 
eral Staff  had  ever  had  to  fly  over  the  lines  or  in  a  crowded 
area  near  a  big  flying  school  where  it  is  necessary  to 
turn  the  head  from  right  to  left,  back  and  forth,  continually, 
in  order  to  make  sure  of  avoiding  other  airplanes,  either 
enemy  or  friendly. 

At  school  we  permitted  our  students  to  wear  sweaters 
under  their  flying   equipment  instead  of  the  regulation 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  227 

blouses.  Even  so,  however,  they  were  frequently  subjected  to 
serious  reprimands  if  they  were  seen  by  old  regular  officers, 
"improperly  clad  and  contrary  to  regulation."  At  the  Front, 
however,  it  was  different  The  aviator  who  went  over  the  lines 
ran  a  very  good  chance  of  being  taken  prisoner  in  case  he 
was  forced  to  land  because  of  engine  failure  or  being  shot 
down.  Naturally,  it  was  necessary  for  him  always  to  be  clad 
in  the  uniform  of  an  officer.  Some  squadron  commanders 
permitted  their  pilots  to  wear  non-regulation  blouses  pat- 
terned on  the  English  model,  with  roll  collars.  This  caused 
censure  and  complaint  on  the  part  of  those  whose  duty  it 
was  to  uphold  the  regulations  and  see  that  they  were  carried 
out.  Other  pilots  who  crossed  the  lines  wearing  the  regulation 
collars  frequently  came  back  with  necks  cut  and  bleeding, 
owing  to  the  necessity  of  turning  the  head  incessandy  in 
order  to  avoid  surprise  attacks  of  enemy  airplanes. 

This  may  seem  to  be  a  small  matter,  and  hardly  deserving 
of  so  much  attention.  The  truth  is,  however,  that  it  made  the 
young  pilot  feel  that  the  army  took  no  interest  in  his  wel- 
fare. The  General  Staff  failed  to  recognize  that  this  su- 
premely voluntary  service,  from  which  it  was  so  easy  to 
escape  if  one  felt  so  inclined,  required  plenty  of  encourage- 
ment, and  the  zest  that  comes  from  intense  pride  in  an 
organization.  It  was  well  known  that  the  British  and  French 
armies  treated  their  aviators  with  the  utmost  consideration, 
permitting  them  great  freedom  and  recognizing  that  the 
extremely  hazardous  and  nerve-racking  nature  of  the  daily- 
service  over  the  lines  required  a  different  form  of  discipline. 


228  AN  EXPLORER 

The  additional  fact  that  our  own  navy  had  acknowledged 
the  special  uniform  requirements  of  an  aviator  made  it  all 
the  harder  to  understand  why  the  General  Staff  refused  to 
give  us  more  consideration.  It  is  worthy  of  note  that  Major- 
General  Brewster,  the  Inspector-General  of  the  American 
Expeditionary  Forces,  in  May,  1918,  personally  recom- 
mended a  change  in  the  uniform  regulation  in  order  to  give 
the  aviators  what  he  felt  they  justly  deserved.  His  recom- 
mendation, however,  produced  no  result. 

It  was  frequently  felt  by  the  officers  of  the  American  Air 
Service  that  the  army  as  a  whole,  particularly  some  of  the 
older  staff  officers,  were  so  jealous  of  the  extraordinary  in- 
terest which  Congress  and  the  American  people  took  in 
aviation,  and  were  so  resentful  of  the  unfortunate  amount 
of  advertising  which  the  Air  Service  received  (through  no 
fault  of  its  own),  that  they  took  satisfaction  in  declining  any 
requests  for  special  consideration.  The  fact  remains,  that 
the  Air  Service,  composed  largely,  as  it  must  be,  of  high- 
strung,  venturesome  boys  willing  to  take  unheard-of  risks  in 
their  enthusiasm,  and  facing  extraordinary  dangers  even  in 
the  ordinary  course  of  their  daily  drill  and  training,  needs 
intelligent,  sympathetic  consideration. 

The  General  Staff  must  prepare  for  the  future  by  requir- 
ing its  officers  to  fly,  or  by  including  among  its  members 
a  relatively  large  number  of  pilots  and  observers,  so  that 
there  will  be  just  as  sympathetic  an  understanding  of  the 
Air  Service  as  there  is  of  the  Cavalry  or  Field  Artillery. 
There  will  be  no  excuse  for  not  having  on  the  General 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  229 

Staff  men  like  Colonel  Walter  G.  Kilner,  who  received  the 
Distinguished  Service  Medal  for  his  remarkable  work  in 
organizing  aviation  instruction  in  France,  knows  the  whole 
problem  of  Military  Aeronautics  from  top  to  bottom,  and 
who  did  more  towards  the  success  of  aviation  in  France 
than  any  other  officer  in  the  American  Expeditionary  Forces. 
Furthermore,  there  should  be  men  on  the  Staff  like  Colonel 
Robert  M.  Danford,  now  Commandant  of  Cadets  at  West 
Point,  who  believes  that  all  artillery  officers  should  become 
aerial  observers,  even  if  they  cannot  learn  to  fly  themselves. 
In  the  past,  all  officers  of  field  artillery  were  "mounted"  offi- 
cers and  wore  spurs ;  in  the  future,  they  should  all  be  able  to 
wear  the  wings  of  a  pilot  or  an  observer.  The  eyes  of  the 
artillery  must  be  under  the  control  of  the  same  general  offi- 
cer who  directs  the  activities  of  the  guns  themselves.  In 
other  words,  it  would  be  folly  to  divorce  Military  Aeronautics 
from  the  army.  Our  military  aviators  must  be  trained  by 
army  officers,  who  have  themselves  learned  the  peculiar 
difficulties  of  this  new  branch  of  the  Service. 

Plans  for  military  airplanes  will  undoubtedly  be  pre- 
sented by  members  of  the  arm  that  is  going  to  use  them; 
but  the  actual  manufacture  and  production  of  airplanes 
need  not  be  under  military  control  any  more  than  the  manu- 
facture of  arms  and  ammunition  as  carried  on  at  such  great 
plants  as  Winchester's  and  Colt's. 

Personally,  I  agree  with  such  authorities  as  Admiral 
David  Beatty,  that  an  Independent  Air  Force  is  a  mistake, 
and  that  the  army  and  the  navy  should  each  control  the 


230  AN  EXPLORER 

training  and  the  operation  of  their  own  aviators.  The  Air- 
craft Journal  for  November,  1919,  contained  the  following 
digest  of  an  interview  with  Admiral  Beatty,  which  is  most 
significant. 

Admiral  Beatty  stated  that  he  had  supported  the  creation  of  the 
Royal  Air  Forces,  for  the  reason  that  at  the  time  it  was  the  only 
way  he  could  get  the  personnel  and  material  he  needed  in  the  Grand 
Fleet ;  he  thought  that  a  young  and  new  service  would  be  keen  to 
make  a  reputation  with  the  two  older  services  (Navy  and  Army) 
by  being  particular  not  to  let  anything  interfere  with  Naval  and 
Army  Aviation  needs.  In  that  way,  with  production  centralized, 
they  would  get  by  the  troubles  they  were  having  for  supply  of  ma- 
terial. But  that  was  his  idea  during  the  war ;  now  that  the  war  is 
over,  he  does  not  consider  the  R.  A.  F.  organization  a  proper  one, 
as  far  as  it  applies  to  the  Navy  and  Army ;  the  phrase  "  Navy  and 
Army  and  Air  "  is  an  attractive  one  but  it  is  n't  sound  in  each  pro- 
fession— Navy  and  Army — and  there  should  be  no  independent 
fighting  force  in  the  air.  .  .  . 

He  considered  that  the  value  of  the  Independent  Air  Force  for 
England  was  somewhat  overrated:  results  of  the  war  showed  that 
damage  by  bombing,  both  physical  and  moral,  was  not  as  great  as 
expected;  for  example,  in  spite  of  the  tons  of  high  explosives 
dropped  on  Bruges  there  was  surprisingly  little  damage.  The  moral 
effect  of  the  bombing  wears  off,  for  the  population  gradually  becomes 
accustomed  to  it.  Referring  to  the  organization  requirements  of  the 
United  States,  he  said  that  with  our  geographical  position  there  was 
no  excuse  at  all  for  an  independent  fighting  Air  Force.  But  he  does 
believe  that  a  separate  Air  organization  to  control  all  aviation  pro- 
duction is  desirable,  for  England  or  any  other  country. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

THE  FUTURE  OF  AVIATION 

WITH  increased  knowledge  as  to  the  possibilities 
of  aviation,  other  departments  of  the  Government 
will  more  and  more  desire  to  own  and  operate  their  own 
planes  and  dirigibles.  The  Post-Office  Department  has  its 
own  problems,  which  are  even  now  being  successfully 
worked  out.  Similarly,  the  Forest  Service  will  desire  to  use 
small  dirigibles  to  enable  their  forest  rangers  to  cover  large 
reservations  quickly  and  effectively.  In  the  course  of  time 
the  Department  of  Agriculture  will  undoubtedly  wish  to 
use  airships  to  make  rapid  surveys  of  large  crop  areas.  The 
Navy  Department  will  continue  to  control  the  seaplanes  and 
dirigibles  which  are  now  such  indispensable  adjuncts  of  the 
modern  battleship.  The  Treasury  Department  will  need  to 
use  the  air  just  as  it  uses  the  water  for  revenue  cutters,  in 
order  to  prevent  the  breach  of  those  laws,  the  observance 
of  which  the  Treasury  Department  is  particularly  inter- 
ested in.  The  Department  of  Justice  will  need  a  certain 
number  of  fast  planes  in  order  that  its  special  agents  may 
make  rapid  visits  to  those  places  that  require  immediate  in- 
vestigation. 

In  considering  the  future,  we  must  remember  that  the 
air  has  become  one  of  the  routes  of  travel,  and  that  its  use 
as  such  is  going  to  grow,  just  as  the  use  of  our  navigable 
streams  has  increased  since  the  days  of  Fulton,  and  the  uses 
of  the  ocean  have  multiplied  since  the  days  of  Prince  Henry 
the  Navigator  and  the  commencement  of  scientific  naviga- 


232  AN  EXPLORER 

tion.  To  be  sure,  aviation  is  only  in  its  infancy ;  it  must  not 
be  expected  that  its  future  will  be  smooth  and  lacking  in 
incident. 

The  man-in -the-street  has  been  watching  the  progress 
of  aviation  during  the  past  ten  years  with  varied  emotions. 
At  first  he  showed  great  interest  in  the  progress  of  an  art 
which  was  made  of  practical  utility  by  the  patient  scien- 
tific experiments  of  the  Wright  brothers.  Then,  after  noting 
with  dismay  the  large  percentage  of  well-known  flyers  who 
were  killed,  his  enthusiasm  waned  and  he  was  inclined  to 
feel  that  perhaps,  after  all,  man  was  not  intended  to  imitate 
the  birds.  A  few  of  his  friends  bought  airplanes  that  did 
not  fly,  or  at  any  rate  which  could  not  be  made  to  fly  by 
the  purchasers,  and  he  learned  to  discount  the  statements 
of  airplane  manufacturers.  He  discounted  them  so  far,  in 
fact,  that  unless  he  was  fortunate  enough  to  come  into 
personal  contact  with  Curtiss  Flying  Boats  at  Miami  or 
Atlantic  City,  his  faith  was  dead.  His  lack  of  interest  was 
reflected  in  the  small  size  of  the  appropriations  which  Con- 
gress saw  fit  to  make  for  the  development  of  aviation  in  the 
army  and  navy.  This  feeling  of  discouragement  was  fur- 
ther enhanced  by  the  disputes  and  "scandals"  connected 
with  the  administration  of  the  Army  Aviation  School  at 
San  Diego. 

Then  came  the  war  and  the  achievements  of  the  cele- 
brated Lafayette  Squadron.  The  man-in-the-street  began 
to  read  of  aerial  victories,  and  came  to  believe  that  the  war 
could  be  won  in  the  air,  if  enough  money  was  spent.  His 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  233 

imagination  visualized  a  cloud  of  American  planes  over 
Germany.  His  enthusiasm  reached  such  a  pitch  that  the 
largest  single  appropriation  ever  made  for  aviation  in  all 
its  history,  $640,000,000,  was  passed  almost  without  dis- 
cussion, and  practically  unanimously,  by  a  Congress  which 
reflected  his  superlative  optimism. 

The  newspapers  which  he  read  in  the  fall  of  1917,  as  he 
rode  home  from  his  day  in  the  street,  gave  him  a  tremen- 
dous sense  of  comfort  in  the  thought  that  we  were  soon  to 
overwhelm  the  Huns  in  the  air.  Then  came  unaccountable 
delays.  Skepticism  and  disappointment  took  the  place  of 
optimistic  enthusiasm.  Dismay  followed,  and  in  the  summer 
of  1918,  the  man-in-the-street  threw  his  aviation  ideals 
overboard,  shrugged  his  shoulders,  and  decided  that  some- 
body had  sold  him  a  gold  brick.  So  completely  did  he  turn 
his  back  on  his  former  belief,  that  he  refused  to  read  about 
what  had  been  really  accomplished  before  the  Armistice 
was  signed ;  or,  reading  it,  declined  to  be  "fooled  a  second 
time." 

The  fact  that  he  had  expected  more  than  was  humanly 
possible  did  not  help  him  to  appreciate  the  miracle  that  had 
actually  been  performed.  In  a  year  and  a  half  the  Army 
Air  Service  had  grown  from  having  224  airplanes  of  doubt- 
ful value,  "a  magnificent  retrospective  museum,"  as  a  vis- 
iting French  aviator  remarked,  to  over  17,000,  a  large  per- 
centage of  them  the  best  in  the  world  for  the  purposes  for 
which  they  were  intended.  We  did  not  manufacture  all  of 
the  17,000,  nor  did  France  or  England  manufacture  all 


234  AN  EXPLORER 

the  ammunition  they  used.  The  point  is — we  had  them! 

There  were  other  achievements  that  the  man-in-the- 
street  might  have  been  proud  of.  He  believed  in  the  Rolls 
Royce  motor,  but  thought  the  Liberty  motor  a  failure.  He 
ought  to  have  been  interested  to  learn  that  England,  with 
all  her  faith  in  the  Rolls  Royce,  was  only  able  at  the  end  of 
the  war  to  make  ten  a  day,  while  we  were  manufacturing 
150  Liberty  motors  every  twenty-four  hours.  This  took 
time  to  develop.  It  always  does  take  time  to  put  a  new  motor 
on  a  production  basis.  He  did  not  know  that  in  order  to 
manufacture  a  Liberty  motor  on  a  typical  American  quan- 
tity production  basis,  it  was  necessary  to  make  3000  sepa- 
rate tools,  gigs,  and  fixtures. 

With  his  skepticism  and  his  lack  of  technical  knowledge, 
he  did  not  understand  why  England  and  France  were  eager 
to  purchase  Liberty  motors.  He  doubted  the  statement  that 
they  were  willing  to  take  all  we  could  spare  them.  The  chief 
reason  was  that  the  Liberty  motor  is  remarkably  efficient 
It  weighs  100  pounds  less  than  the  Rolls  Royce  and  de- 
velops 100  horse  power  more !  It  is  not  surprising  that  the 
first  motors  to  succeed  in  crossing  the  Atlantic  Ocean  were 
Liberty  motors;  while  the  Rolls  Royce  got  "red  hot"  and 
Mr.  Hawker  had  to  look  to  a  chance  steamer  for  aid. 

With  regard  to  airships  and  balloons,  the  man-in-the- 
street  knew  very  little,  or  he  would  have  taken  even  more 
pride  in  the  American  Air  Service.  From  being  able  to  make 
two  balloons  a  week  when  we  went  into  the  war,  our  capa- 
city increased  so  that  when  the  Armistice  was  signed,  we 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  235 

were  actually  making  70  balloons  a  week.  But  that  was  not 
the  principal  thing,  although  the  presence  of  these  kite  bal- 
loons was  an  important  factor  in  winning  the  war  on  the 
Western  Front. 

We  probably  never  shall  know  just  how  many  of  our 
military  secrets  were  known  to  the  Hun,  nor  just  how  far 
this  knowledge,  and  what  it  meant  in  terms  of  the  spring 
campaign  for  1919,  led  him  to  sign  the  Armistice  in  the 
fall  of  1918.  It  may  have  been  that  the  knowledge  of  our 
ability  to  begin  inflating  our  balloons  with  non-inflammable 
gas,  a  gas  which  could  not  be  exploded  by  the  fire  of  in- 
cendiary bullets  from  Hun  airplanes,  had  something  to  do 
with  his  decision  that  the  game  was  not  worth  the  candle. 
The  fact  remains  that  we  had  learned  to  produce  helium 
gas  in  quantity,  and  that  the  first  shipment  was  made  in 
November,  1918. 

The  aerial  observer,  riding  steadily  in  the  basket  of  a 
kite  balloon,  had  proved  to  be  more  useful  in  the  control  of 
artillery  fire  than  his  brother  in  the  observation  airplane, 
who  was  continuallydodging  anti-aircraft  fire — to  say  noth- 
ing of  the  attacks  of  hostile  planes.  The  balloon  filled  with 
hydrogen  made  a  relatively  easy  mark  for  hostile  planes, 
and  it  took  only  one  bullet  to  send  it  down  in  flames,  while 
the  observer  escaped  in  a  parachute.  Had  it  been  filled  with 
helium,  he  would  have  been  able  to  stay  up  almost  indefi- 
nitely. And  the  observer  would  have  given  a  good  account 
of  himself  by  using  machine  guns,  firing  from  a  relatively 
stable  platform  against  the  attacking  airplanes,  whose  guns 


236  AN  EXPLORER 

were  firing  from  a  platform  moving  at  the  rate  of  more  than 
100  miles  an  hour. 

Helium,  as  the  gas  next  lightest  to  hydrogen  and  with 
95  per  cent  of  its  lifting  power,  was  not  known  to  the  man-in - 
the-street,  and  would  not  have  interested  him,  for  when  we 
entered  the  war  helium  cost  $1700  a  cubic  foot.  To  have 
used  it  on  the  Western  Front  in  the  same  quantity  that  we 
used  hydrogen  would  have  cost  us  $34,000,000,000,  or 
more  than  all  our  Liberty  Bonds  combined.  The  knowledge 
of  what  we  might  do  if  we  could  produce  it  at  reasonable 
cost  led  to  such  earnest  investigation  on  the  part  of  our 
scientists  in  Washington,  that  a  method  was  discovered 
whereby  helium  could  be  extracted  from  natural  gas  in 
Texas  or  Oklahoma  at  the  cost  of  10  cents  a  cubic  foot. 
Instead  of  $34,000,000,000,  it  would  then  only  have  cost 
$2,000,000  to  replace  hydrogen  in  our  balloons  over  the 
lines.  These  things  should  have  encouraged  the  man-in-the- 
street.  As  he  becomes  conscious  of  them,  they  will  eventually 
lead  him  to  take  a  new  interest  in  the  possibilities  of  aviation 
and  the  future  of  the  Air  Service. 

The  extraordinary  success  of  the  British  dirigible  in  hunt- 
ing submarines  and  keeping  on  their  trail  until  they  were 
put  out  of  business  is  now  one  of  the  open  secrets  of  the  war. 
The  dirigible,  more  easily  than  the  fast  flying  airplane, 
could  pick  up  the  oily  trail  of  the  submarine,  locate  various 
oily  surfaces,  examine  them  at  its  leisure,  "  stalk  the  sub- 
marine to  its  lair,"  and  finally  direct  the  destroyers  where  to 
drop  their  depth  bombs  most  successfully.  In  the  matter  of 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  237 

Coast  Defence,  it  would  seem  as  though  dirigibles  were  far 
more  successful  than  seaplanes. 

In  the  pursuits  of  peace  time,  the  possible  activity  of  diri- 
gibles, both  small  and  large,  has  scarcely  been  given  due 
consideration  in  America.  The  possibilities  of  a  small  diri- 
gible are  enormous  and  but  dimly  appreciated.  If  one  is  will- 
ing to  run  the  risk  of  fire  and  use  hydrogen  gas,  a  portable 
gas-making  machine  has  been  perfected  which  enables  one 
readily  to  make  hydrogen  from  a  wayside  stream.  If  one 
prefers  to  use  helium,  it  can  be  compressed  into  tubes  that 
are  feasible  for  transportation.  Furthermore,  the  leakage  of 
helium  is  not  as  great  as  that  of  hydrogen.  A  skilful  aero- 
naut can  find  landing  places  for  a  dirigible  in  many  regions 
where  landing  in  an  airplane  is  absolutely  out  of  the  question. 

The  use  of  dirigibles  in  exploring  large  flooded  areas  and 
making  prompt  reports  regarding  the  extent  of  the  flood  has 
been  suggested.  Imagine  what  an  enormous  saving  could  be 
effected  by  prompt,  accurate  reports  of  its  description  at  a 
time  when  telegraph  wires  are  down  and  communication  by 
railroad  or  automobile  has  been  seriously  broken. 

Their  use  in  crossing  desert  areas,  where  full  advantage 
can  be  taken  of  prevailing  winds  and  where,  by  sailing  low, 
a  large  amount  of  data  can  be  collected  with  the  minimum 
amount  of  risk  and  delay,  should  be  considered.  It  frequently 
happens  that  important  mines  are  located  in  the  midst  of 
mountainous  deserts  which  are  very  difficult  of  access.  A 
case  has  been  brought  to  my  attention  of  a  miner  in  Alaska 
who  lost  $100,000  because  of  his  inability  to  go  over  the 


238  AN  EXPLORER 

trails  during  the  winter  season.  He  would  have  been  willing 
to  pay  $25,000  for  that  transportation  which  would  have 
been  entirely  practicable  had  a  dirigible  and  its  crew  been 
available. 

In  exploration  in  the  Amazon  Valley  we  have  always  been 
hampered  by  the  extreme  density  of  the  jungle  and  the  ne- 
cessity of  keeping  near  the  great  watercourses.  There  are 
thousands  of  square  miles  within  easy  flying  distance  of 
navigable  rivers,  thousands  of  square  miles  of  totally  unex- 
plored country  which  the  explorer  who  has  a  dirigible  could 
photograph,  map,  and  investigate,  from  a  low  elevation  in 
the  air,  to  his  heart's  content.  To  attempt  to  do  this  in  air- 
planes would  mean  the  necessity  of  flying  at  great  eleva- 
tions in  order  to  increase  the  margin  of  safety  in  case  of 
engine  failure  and  make  it  possible  to  glide  to  some  safe 
landing  area  upon  a  navigable  stream.  On  the  other  hand, 
a  small  dirigible  operating  from  a  motor  boat  on  a  river 
could  make  journeys  of  hundreds  of  miles  over  absolutely 
unknown  regions  with  a  very  small  amount  of  danger.  Ow- 
ing to  the  dirigible's  ability  to  float  low  over  heavily  forested 
country,  a  tropical  botanist  or  a  practical  forester  skilled  in 
the  commercial  features  of  the  Amazon  basin  could  locate 
at  very  little  expense  the  important  groves  of  mahogany  or 
rubber  which  do  so  much  to  make  the  tropics  profitable  in 
commerce. 

Should  Commercial  Aeronautics  be  under  a  separate 
branch  of  the  Government?  At  the  Sixth  National  Foreign 
Trade  Convention,  held  in  Chicago  in  April,  1919,  repre- 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  239 

sentatives  of  the  largest  and  most  powerful  exporting  man- 
ufacturers and  merchants  of  America  adopted  the  follow- 
ing resolutions: 

Realizing  the  unquestioned  advantages  of  having  the  speediest  pos- 
sible mail  and  express  service  in  enabling  American  enterprise  to 
compete  successfully  in  securing  the  specifications  and  requirements  of 
our  foreign  contracts,  this  convention  urges  prompt  Congressional 
consideration  of  suitable  plans  for  developing  aerial  navigation.  The 
establishment  of  the  necessary  aids  to  such  navigation,  the  investiga- 
tion and  development  of  the  fundamental  principles  of  commercial 
aeronautics,  the  promotion  of  airship  service  to  distant  countries,  are 
matters  which  demand  the  prompt  establishment  of  a  separate  de- 
partment of  the  government.  One  of  its  chief  duties  should  be  to  pro- 
vide the  necessary  information  which  will  make  possible  the  use  of 
aerial  navigation  as  an  aid  to  foreign  trade. 

The  development  of  foreign  trade  depends  in  large  measure 
upon  pleasing  the  foreign  customer.  When  his  need  arises, 
he  gives  his  order  to  the  man  whose  integrity  he  respects, 
who  can  deliver  the  goods  most  promptly,  and  whose  stand- 
ing in  the  local  community  is  at  a  high  level.  Agents  of 
American  goods  abroad  have  in  the  past  been  at  a  disad- 
vantage, owing  to  lack  of  proper  banking  facilities,  lack  of 
adequate  ocean  transport,  and  lack  of  prestige  due  to  the 
absence  of  our  flag  on  the  best  passenger  and  freight  lines. 
These  things  have  been  largely  remedied,  and  our  European 
competitors  know  that  at  least  American  banking  facilities 
and  American  steamship  lines  have  improved  during  the 
war  to  such  an  extent  as  greatly  to  assist  the  American  ex- 
porter. Consequently,  they  are  naturally  turning  to  the  pos- 


240  AN  EXPLORER 

sibilities  of  Aviation  as  a  means  of  passing  us  in  the  race 
and  securing  the  most  attractive  foreign  contracts. 

If  the  foreign  buyer  knows  that  his  order  must  go  by 
steamship  mail  from  Buenos  Aires,  the  greatest  city  of  the 
southern  hemisphere,  or  from  Hongkong  or  Yokohama, 
those  great  markets  of  the  Far  East,  before  they  can  be  de- 
livered to  our  factories  in  America,  a  process  that  will  take 
about  three  weeks  in  time  as  compared  with  three  or  four 
days  if  he  sends  the  order  to  Europe  by  a  British  dirigible 
airship  like  the  R-34,  it  will  be  hard  to  secure  that  order 
if  he  is  in  a  hurry.  Furthermore,  if  he  knows  that  he  can 
secure  from  Europe  specifications  or  missing  parts  by  air- 
plane express  within  a  week  or  ten  days  from  the  time  he 
sends  for  them,  while  it  would  take  him  from  six  weeks  to 
two  months  to  get  the  same  service  from  New  York,  it  will 
be  very  difficult  for  the  American  exporter  to  secure  his  order. 

Our  British  cousins  have  a  knowledge  of  export  trade 
and  how  to  develop  it  that  is  second  to  none.  Even  during 
the  darkest  days  of  the  war,  the  British  Air  Ministry  was 
studying  the  problems  of  civil  aerial  transport  They  have 
been  experimenting  with  rigid  dirigibles  for  several  years. 
They  sent  a  sample  over  here  in  1919  to  prove  that  the 
thing  was  feasible.  The  R-34  and  ships  of  her  type  which 
are  being  built  in  England  to-day  can  go  anywhere  in  the 
world,  provided  there  are  proper  terminals,  and  provided  there 
are  occasional  ports  to  which  they  can  repair  in  time  of 
stress,  and  where  they  may  ride  safely  while  taking  on  sup- 
plies of  gas  and  oil.  As  soon  as  they  can  be  sure  of  suffi- 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  241 

cient  aids  to  aerial  navigation  and  proper  docks  that  will  not 
endanger  the  safety  of  these  expensive  but  speedy  aircraft, 
England  and  France  will  have  lines  of  rigid  dirigibles  and 
seaplanes  established  between  the  principal  cities  of  Europe 
and  the  great  foreign  markets  in  South  America  and  the 
Far  East. 

Of  course  it  will  take  time  to  develop  these  terminals,  but 
England  is  steadily  working  on  the  problem  while  we  are 
making  little  or  no  attempt  to  progress  in  that  direction. 
After  years  of  experimentation,  England  has  learned  how 
to  build  a  successful  rigid  dirigible  which  can  cross  the 
Atlantic  in  less  than  forty-eight  hours,  without  endanger- 
ing either  passengers  or  crew  in  case  of  engine  trouble.  We 
have  developed  no  rigid  dirigible  in  this  country,  nor,  so  far 
as  I  know,  are  there  any  under  construction.  It  seems  as 
though  we  were  asleep  to  the  possibilities  of  aerial  transport 
There  is  no  question  that  England's  foreign  trade  is  going 
to  be  tremendously  boomed  by  her  far-sighted  study  of  civil 
aerial  transport  and  by  her  present  attention  to  rigid  dirigi- 
bles. When  these  great  airships  are  seen  in  foreign  ports 
flying  the  British  flag  and  offering  quick  connection  between 
British  manufacturers  and  their  foreign  customers,  we  shall 
find  effective  competition  to  be  very  hard  sledding.  If  we 
wait  until  we  actually  see  and  feel  the  effects  of  the  British 
aerial  international  transport,  it  will  take  us  years  to  catch 
up,  and  in  the  mean  time  the  position  of  our  competitors  will 
be  more  and  more  firmly  established. 

History  is  curiously  repeating  itself  in  this  question  of 


242  AN  EXPLORER 

foreign  transportation.  One  hundred  years  ago,  steamers 
were  just  being  tried  out.  The  first  one  to  cross  the  Atlantic 
was  an  American — the  steamer  Savannah.  She  took  thirty 
days  to  cross  the  ocean,  while  our  clipper  ships  often  did 
it  in  half  that  time.  Our  experienced  exporters,  instead  of 
having  vision  and  doing  all  in  their  power  to  establish 
American  lines  of  steamers,  were  contented  to  rely  on  our 
attractive  clipper  ships  and  to  brag  about  their  performance, 
while  England  gradually  developed  lines  of  ocean  steamers, 
and  we  one  day  woke  up  to  the  fact  that  our  clipper  ships 
were  out  of  date  and  that  England  had  the  coaling  stations, 
the  foreign  agents,  the  necessary  terminals,  and  the  tech- 
nical knowledge  to  enable  her  to  push  our  ocean-going 
commerce  out  of  the  foreign  ports  where  it  had  once  been 
so  well  known.  Are  we  about  to  do  this  all  over  again  ?  Are 
Americans  willing  to  be  content  with  having  made  aerial 
navigation  a  practical  possibility,  and  then  going  to  permit 
its  future  development  to  rest  in  the  hands  of  our  Euro- 
pean competitors  and  thus  let  them  secure  the  most  effi- 
cient handmaid  of  future  foreign  trade? 

We  may  confidently  expect  that  the  army  of  the  future 
will  spend  much  time  and  thought  in  developing  Military 
Aeronautics,  and  the  navy,  similarly,  in  the  growth  of 
Naval  Aeronautics.  Then  who  is  to  look  after  Commercial 
Aeronautics?  Who  is  to  conduct  the  fundamental  experi- 
ments in  the  use  of  the  air?  Who  is  to  carry  out  the  me- 
teorological surveys  to  be  made  before  aerial  transportation 
can  be  fully  developed?  Who  will  establish  the  aids  to  aerial 


IN  THE  AIR  SERVICE  243 

navigation,  such  as  air  ports,  wind  breaks,  lighthouses,  bea- 
cons, storm  warnings,  life  saving  stations,  with  aerial  patrol 
ready  to  give  assistance  to  wrecked  airships?  Whose  busi- 
ness is  it  to  do  all  these  things?  Until  these  are  done;  until 
proper  wharves  and  suitable  harbors  are  prepared  for  the 
reception  of  airships,  where  they  will  be  as  safe  in  time  of 
storm  as  are  those  sailing  vessels  which  plow  the  seven 
seas,  the  future  of  aviation,  as  far  as  we  are  concerned,  will 
be  relatively  insignificant  We  recognize  the  fact  that  a 
coast  without  ports  and  harbors  does  not  attract  commerce, 
does  not  develop  sailors,  and  does  not  conduce  to  a  pros- 
perous merchant  marine.  We  have  hitherto  failed  to  recog- 
nize the  fact  that  a  land  without  air  ports  and  air  harbors 
cannot  expect  to  witness  the  rapid  development  of  Com- 
mercial Aeronautics.  The  future  of  Aviation  depends  in 
large  measure  on  the  speed  with  which  we  provide  aids  for 
aerial  navigation. 

These  are  not  needs  which  concern  the  army  or  the 
navy  nearly  as  much  as  they  concern  the  merchant  and 
the  manufacturer,  who  depend  on  them  for  their  support. 
The  commerce  of  the  future  demands  special  consideration 
from  a  governmental  department  of  aeronautics.  Such  a 
department  would  give  it  the  fostering  care  that  has  been 
shown  by  the  Department  of  Agriculture  in  its  bureaus  of 
animal  industry  and  plant  importation.  Just  as  the  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture  has  helped  to  provide  better  horses  for 
the  cavalry  and  better  seeds  for  the  farmer ;  just  as  it  has 
helped  us  to  produce  more  healthy  crops  and  to  solve  the 


244  AN  EXPLORER 

complex  problems  of  farming,  so  must  the  Department  of 
Aeronautics  provide  winged  steeds  for  the  "mounted  offi- 
cers" of  the  field  artillery,  reconnaissance  planes  for  the  cav- 
alry, and  adequate  aerial  transportation  for  our  merchants 
and  manufacturers. 

Finally,  we  must  not  allow  aerial  accidents  to  blind  us 
to  the  importance  of  aerial  navigation.  Two  thousand  ocean 
vessels  were  wrecked  on  the  shores  of  Cape  Cod  prior  to 
1915.  Nevertheless,  in  the  preceding  centuries  the  progress 
of  ocean  navigation  went  steadily  ahead  on  the  New  Eng- 
land coast  in  spite  of  loss  of  life  and  property.  We  may  con- 
fidently expect  that  aerial  navigation  will  slowly  advance, 
in  spite  of  fatal  accidents  and  numerous  crashes.  Still,  if  we 
believe  in  aviation,  it  is  our  duty  to  strive  by  every  means 
in  our  power  to  secure  the  construction  of  those  aids  to  nav- 
igation that  will  reduce  the  risks  and  encourage  the  enter- 
prise of  the  daring  young  pilots  who  are  ready  to  do  their 
part  in  making  the  Air  Service  of  the  future  a  glorious  page 
in  the  history  of  America. 


APPENDIX 


APPENDIX 

ADMINISTRATION  ROSTER*  OF  OFFICERS  ON  DUTY  AT 

THE  THIRD  AVIATION  INSTRUCTION  CENTRE,  A.  E.  F. 

November  24,  1918 

Staff 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Hiram  Bingham,  A.  S.,  Commanding 
Major  Thomas  G.  Lanphier,  Infantry,  Executive  Officer 
Major  Victor  W.  Pag6,  A.  S.,  Aero  Engineer  Officer,  0.  I.  C.  Trans. 
Captain  Lester  E.  Cummings,  A.  S.,  Summary  Court  Officer 
Captain  Leo  R.  Sack,  A.  S.,  Liaison  Officer,  0. I.  C.  "Plane  News" 
Captain  Theodore  C.  Knight,  A.  S.,  0. 1.  C.  Fields  1  and  2 
Captain  St.  Clair  Street,  A.  S.,  0. I.  C.  Field  5 
Captain  Richard  S.  Davis,  A.  S.,  0. I.  C.  Field  7 
Captain  George  Bleistein,  Jr.,  A.  S.,  Disbursing  Officer 
Captain  Henry  C.  Ferguson,  A.  S.,  0. I.  C.  Flying 
Captain  Harry  L.  Wingate,  A.  S.,  0. 1.  C.  Field  8 
Captain  Henry  H.  Simons,  A.  S.,  0. I.  C.  Field  3 
Captain  Vernon  H.  Simmons,  A.  S.,  0. 1.  C.  Training 
First  Lieutenant  Richard  H.  Merkle,  A.  S.,  0. 1.  C.  Field  10 
First  Lieutenant  Frederick  A.  Vietor,  6th  Cavalry,  Assistant  Provost 

Marshal 
First  Lieutenant  Emil  H.  Molthan,  A.  S.,  0. I.  C.  Field  9 
First  Lieutenant  George  W.  Eypper,  A.  S.,  0.1.  C.  Aerial  Gunnery 
First  Lieutenant  William  V.  Saxe,  A.  S.,  Adjutant 
First  Lieutenant  Raymond  A.  Watkins,  A.  S.,  0. 1.  C.  Field  12 
First  Lieutenant  Selmer  J.  Tilleson,  A.S.,0. 1.  C.  Aero  Supply 
Second  Lieutenant  Robert  H.  Clark,  A.  S.,  Personnel  Officer 

10th  Aero  Sqjjadron 
First  Lieutenant  Louis  H.  Kronig,  A.  S.,  Commanding 
First  Lieutenant  George  W.  Fish,  A.  S.,  Engineer  Officer  Field  8 
First  Lieutenant  Earl  W.  Sweeney,  A.  S. ,  Assistant  0. 1.  C.  Aerial  Gun- 
nery Field  8 

*  This  roster  does  not  include  the  namei  of  student  officers,  of  whom  there  were  at  that 
time  about  one  thousand. 


248  APPENDIX 

First  Lieutenant  John  A.  Taylor,  A.  S.,  Squadron  Supply  Officer 
First  Lieutenant  Thomas  Munroe,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  8 
First  Lieutenant  Duerson  Knight,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  8 
Second  Lieutenant  Charles  W.  Seaton,  A.  S.,  Unassigned 
Second  Lieutenant  Lewis  A.  Barcelo,  A.  S.,  Maintenance  Officer  Field  8 
Second  Lieutenant  Henry  A.  Colver,  A.  S.,  0. I.  C.  Aerial  Gunnery 
Field  8 

21st  Aero  Sqjjadron 
First  Lieutenant  Frank  L.  Doty,  A.  S.,  Commanding 
First  Lieutenant  Lee  E.  Ellis,  A.  S.,  Squadron  Supply  Officer 
First  Lieutenant  Edgar  Youngdahl,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  3 
First  Lieutenant  George  D.  Floyd,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  3 
First  Lieutenant  Hugh  Lowery,  A.  S.,  0. 1.  C.  Cross-country  Flights 
First  Lieutenant  Alfred  J.  Ralph,  A.  S.,  Assistant  0. 1.  C.  Cross-country 

Flights 
First  Lieutenant  Arthur  L.  Lewis,  A.  S.,  0. 1.  C.  Flying  Field  3 
First  Lieutenant  William  R.  Baxter,  A.  S.,  Adjutant  Field  3 
Second  Lieutenant  Bernard  H.  Baker,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  3 
Second  Lieutenant  Robert  S.  Oliver,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  3 
Second  Lieutenant  Stuart  F.  Auer,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  3 
Second  Lieutenant  James  H.  O'Neil,  A.  S. ,  Chief  Engineer  Officer  Field  3 
Second  Lieutenant  John  T.  Eagleton,  A.  S.,  Duty  with  Aero  Supply  De- 
partment 
Second  Lieutenant  Kent  H.  Smith,  A.  S.,  Police  Officer  Field  3 
Second  Lieutenant  John  E.  Gans,  A.  S.,  Adjutant 

26th  Aero  Sqjjadron 
Captain  James  C.  Calvert,  S.  C,  Commanding 
First  Lieutenant  George  W.  McNamara,  A.  S.,  Claims  Officer  Third 

a.  i.  a 

First  Lieutenant  Thomas  W.  Ward,  A.  S.,  Information  Officer  and  Duty 
with  Training  Department 

Second  Lieutenant  Massey  S.  McCullough,  A.  S.,  Assistant  Transporta- 
tion Officer 

Second  Lieutenant  Karl  H.  Kloo,  A.  S.,  Photographer  Third  A.  I.  C, 
Assistant  0. 1.  C.  "Plane  News" 

Second  Lieutenant  R.  W.  Prestridge,  A.  S.,  Squadron  Supply  Officer  and 
Adjutant 


APPENDIX  249 

30th  Aero  Squadron 

First  Lieutenant  Raymond  M.  Lewis,  A.  S.,  Commanding,  Assistant  Ad- 
jutant Third  A.  I.  C,  0.  I.  C.  Band,  Judge  Advocate  Special  Court- 
Martial 

Second  Lieutenant  Roy  W.  Gottschall,  A.  S.,Duty  tvith  Aerial  Gunnery 
Department 

Second  Lieutenant  Arthur  E.  Stevens,  A.  S.,  Assistant  Supply  Officer 
Third  A.  I.  C. 

Second  Lieutenant  William  G.  Kieck,  A.  S.,  Assistant  Supply  Officer 
Third  A.  I.  C. 

Second  Lieutenant  Eugene  W.  Silver,  A.  S.,  Duty  with  Engineering 
Department 

3 1st  Aero  Squadron 
Captain  Charles  R.  Melin,  A.  S.,  0. 1.  C.  Night  Flying  Field  7 
Second  Lieutenant  James  B.  Andrews,  A.  S.,  Commanding 
First  Lieutenant  Robert  N.  Dippy,  A.  S.,Duty  tvith  Engineering  De- 
partment 
First  Lieutenant  Schuyler  L.  Hoff,  A.  S.,  Supply  Officer  Field  5 
First  Lieutenant  Walter  C.  Davis,  A.  S.,  0. 1.  C.  Training  Field  5 
First  Lieutenant  Roy  Robinson,  A.  S.,  0. 1.  C.  Training  Field  12 
First  Lieutenant  Lloyd  L.  Harvey,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  5 
First  Lieutenant  Wesley  J.  Hunt,  Jr.,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  5 
Second  Lieutenant  Parker  Blair,  A.  S.,  Assistant  Adjutant  Field  5 
Second  Lieutenant  Walter  Sturrock,  A.  S.,  Engineer  Officer  Field  5 

32d  Aero  Squadron 
Captain  Duncan  Dana,  A.  S.,  Commanding,  0. 1.  C.  Aero  Repair  Shop 
First  Lieutenant  Roland  E.  Coates,  A.  S.,  Assistant  Engineer  Officer  Aero 

Repair  Shop 
Second  Lieutenant  Arthur  B.  Coryell,  A.  S.,  Assistant  Engineer  Officer 

Aero  Repair  Shop 
Second  Lieutenant  Eliot  B.  Foot,  A.  S.,  Assistant  Engineer  Officer  Aero 

Repair  Shop 

33d  Aero  Squadron 
Captain  Clarence  Oliver,  A.  S.,  Commanding,  Adjutant  Field  9 
Fifst  Lieutenant  Roger  E.  Martz,  A.  S.,  Chief  Engineer  Officer  Field  9 
First  Lieutenant  Samuel  W.  Rynocker,  A.  S.,  Squadron  Supply  Officer, 

Fire  Marshal,  and  Police  Officer  Field  9 


250  APPENDIX 

First  Lieutenant  Robert  Haverty,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  9 
Second  Lieutenant  Clare  E.  Rollins,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  9 
Second  Lieutenant  James  O.  Peck,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  9 
Second  Lieutenant  Heber  W.  Peters,  A.  S.,  0. 1.  C.  Flying  Field  9 
Second  Lieutenant  George  S.  Koyl,  A.  S.,  Maintenance  Officer  Field  9 
Second  Lieutenant  Edward  L.  Gulick,  Jr.,  A.  S.,  Supply  Officer  Field  9 
Second  Lieutenant  John  L.  Barnes,  A.  S.,  Assistant  Adjutant  Field  9 

35th  Aero  Sojjadron 
Second  Lieutenant  Preston  M.  Albro,  A.  S.,  Commanding 
First  Lieutenant  Golden  H.  Benefiel,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  2 
First  Lieutenant  James  B.  Kincaid,  A.  S.,  0. 1.  C.  Flying  Field  2 
First  Lieutenant  Arthur  T.  Bissonette,  A.  S.,  Assistant  0.  I.  C.  Flying 

Field  2 
First  Lieutenant  Thomas  L.  Dawson,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  2 
First  Lieutenant  Herbert  F.  Duggan,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  2 
First  Lieutenant  Irving  D.  Fish,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  2 
First  Lieutenant  Dean  Hole,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  2 
First  Lieutenant  Barney  M.  Landry,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  2 
First  Lieutenant  James  P.  Moonan,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  2 
First  Lieutenant  William  J.  Ritchie,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  2 
First  Lieutenant  William  E.  Rogers,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  2 
First  Lieutenant  Horace  W.  Stunkard,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  2 
First  Lieutenant  Bernard  M.  Wise,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  2 
First  Lieutenant  Walter  M.  Wotipka,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  2 
Second  Lieutenant  Russell  M.  Bandy,  Jr.,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  2 
Second  Lieutenant  Erhardt  G.  Schmitt,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  2 
Second  Lieutenant  Edgar  A.  Rogers,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  2 
Second  Lieutenant  Joe  W.  Savage,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  2 
Second  Lieutenant  Edwin  C.  Hurlburt,  A.  S.,  Assistant  .Engineer  Officer 

Field  2 
Second  Lieutenant  Charles  H.  W.  Berry,  A.  S.,  Assistant  Engineer  Offi- 
cer Field  2 

37th  Aero  Squadron 
First  Lieutenant  Malcolm  C.  Wall,  A.  S.,  Commanding 
First  Lieutenant  Francis  U.  Wilcox,  A.  S.,  Adjutant  Field  7 


APPENDIX  251 

First  Lieutenant  Foster  R.  Rozar,  A.  S.,  Engineer  Officer  Field  7 
First  Lieutenant  John  N.  Murray,  A.  S.,  Assistant  Adjutant  and  Mess 
Officer  Field  7 

First  Lieutenant  Thomas  L.  Onativia,  A.  S.,  Tester  Field  7 
First  Lieutenant  Wilbur  B.  Stonex,  Moniteur  Field  7 
First  Lieutenant  Harry  F.  Thomas,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  7 
Second  Lieutenant  Dracos  A.  Dimitry,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  7 
Second  Lieutenant  George  W.  Bogardus,  A.  S.,  Supply  Officer  Held  7 

43d  Aero  Squadron 
Second  Lieutenant  Thornton  T.  Perry,  A.  S.,  Commanding 
Second  Lieutenant  Earl  R.  Crebbs,  A.  S.,  Engineer  Officer 
Second  Lieutenant  T.  C.  Thorp,  Infantry,  Assistant  Adjutant  Field  12 
Second  Lieutenant  Edward  E.  Webster,  A.  S.,  Supply  Officer 

101st  Aero  Sqjjadron 
First  Lieutenant  George  S.  Walden,  A.  S.,  Commanding 
Second  Lieutenant  Frederick  W.  Niedermeyer,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Meld  5 
Second  Lieutenant  Lloyd  M.  Dudley,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Meld  5 
Second  Lieutenant  Herbert  L.  Kindred,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Meld  5 
Second  Lieutenant  Howard  E.  Williams,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Meld  5 

149th  Aero  Sqjjadron 
First  Lieutenant  John  B.  Hayes,  A.  S.,  Commanding 
First  Lieutenant  John  C.  Wiler,  A.  S.,  Engineer  Officer 
Second  Lieutenant  Howard  C.  Riley,  A.  S.,  Supply  Officer 

158th  Aero  Sqjjadron 

First  Lieutenant  Phil  E.  Davant,  A.  S.,  Commanding,  Duty  with  Police 

and  Prison  Officer 
Second  Lieutenant  Kenneth  S.  Hall,  A.  S.,  Supply  Officer 
Second  Lieutenant  Freeman  A.  Ballard,  A.  S.,  Duty  with  Engineering 

Department 

173d  Aero  Sqjjadron 
First  Lieutenant  Joseph  B.  Irving,  A.  S.,  Commanding 
First  Lieutenant  Thomas  P.  Sultan,  A.  S.,  0. 1.  C.  Training  Meld  7 


252  APPENDIX 

Second  Lieutenant  Morgan  J.  Flaherty,  A.  S.,  Adjutant 

Second  Lieutenant  Roscoe  C.  Griffin,  A.  S.,  Assistant  Engineer  Officer 

Field  7 
Second  Lieutenant  William  G.  Barnes.  A.  S. ,  Assistant  0. 1.  C.  Training 

Field  7 

257th  Aero  Sojjadron 
First  Lieutenant  Ray  Traxler,  A.  S.,  Commanding 
First  Lieutenant  George  J.  Lay  ton,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  9 
Second  Lieutenant  Strong  B.  McDan,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  9 
Second  Lieutenant  Samuel  C.  Smart,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  9 
Second  Lieutenant  Arthur  L.  Lott,  A.  S.,  Supply  Officer 
Second  Lieutenant  Richard  P.  Carlton,  A.  S.,  Assistant  Engineer  Officer 
Field  9 

369th  Aero  Sojjadron 
First  Lieutenant  Robert  Edmisson,  A.  S.,  Commanding 
First  Lieutenant  Walter  J.  Zapp,  A.  S.,  Supply  Officer 
Second  Lieutenant  Paul  E.  Smith,  A.  S.,  Engineer  Officer 

372d  Aero  Sojjadron 
First  Lieutenant  Theodore  W.  Koch,  A.  S.,  Commanding 
Second  Lieutenant  Victor  G.  Paradise,  A.  S.,  Supply  Officer  Squadron, 

Entertainment  and  Athletic  Officer  Field  1 0 
Second  Lieutenant  S.  G.Farris,  A.  S.,Duty  with  Engineering  Department 

374th  Aero  Sojjadron 
First  Lieutenant  Paul  C.  Bellow,  A.  S.,  Commanding 
Second  Lieutenant  William  J.  Peddie,  A.  S.,  Supply  Officer 
Second  Lieutenant  Henry  Frink,  A.  S.,  Engineer  Officer 

640th  Aero  Sojjadron 
First  Lieutenant  William  G.  Rector,  A.  S.,  Commanding 
Second  Lieutenant  Fred  H.  Belford,  A.  S.,  Duty  with  Engineering  De- 
partment Field  3 
Second  Lieutenant  John  F.  McCormick,  A.  S.,  Supply  Officer  Field  10 


APPENDIX  253 

641st  Aero  Sqjiadron 
Captain  Boyd  F.  Briggs,  A.  S.,  Commanding 
First  Lieutenant  Lewis  A.  Smith,  A.  S.,  Duty  with  Aero  Supply 
Second  Lieutenant  George  B.  Keeler,  A.  S.,  Supply  Officer  Meld  10 
Second  Lieutenant  Stanley  G.  Wilson,  A.  S.,  Duty  with  Aero  Supply  De- 
partment 

Second  Lieutenant  Wilbur  B.  Stonex,  A.  S.,  Supply  Officer  Field  8 
Second  Lieutenant  Clay  E.  Smith,  A.  S.,  Squadron  Supply  Officer 
Second  Lieutenant  Oliver  T.  Massey,  A.  S.,  Adjutant 
Second  Lieutenant  Frederick  B.  Andrews,  A.  S.,  Duty  with  Training 
Department 

642d  Aero  Sojjadron 
First  Lieutenant  Robert  G.  Alexander,  A.  S.,  Commanding 
First  Lieutenant  Donald  F.  Gilbert,  A.  S.,  Duty  with  Construction  Officer 
Second  Lieutenant  John  H.  Cozzens,  A.  S.,Duty  with  Engineering  De- 
partment 
Second  Lieutenant  John  J.  Flaherty,  A.  S.,  Duty  with  Aero  Supply, 

0. 1.  C.  Entertainment 
Second  Lieutenant  Giles  J.  Leath,  A.  S.,  Company  Duty 
Second  Lieutenant  Maurice  J.  Freeman,  A.  S.,  Duty  with  Aerial  Gun- 
nery Department 
Second  Lieutenant  Bayliss  W.  Hunter,  A.  S.yDuly  with  Executive  Officer. 
Second  Lieutenant  Lowell  W.  Bassett,  A.  S.,  Adjutant 
Second  Lieutenant  William  K.  Donaldson,  A.  S.,  0. 1.  C.  Field  Service 

644th  Aero  Sojjadron 
First  Lieutenant  John  H.  Clayton,  A.  S.,  Commanding 
First  Lieutenant  John  G.  Fleming,  A.  S.,  Transportation  Officer  Field  8 
First  Lieutenant  George  S.  Vincent,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  8 
Second  Lieutenant  Lewis  H.  Steward,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  8 
Second  Lieutenant  Royce  D.  Hancock,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  8 
Second  Lieutenant  Samuel  E.  Lawyer,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  8 

801st  Aero  Sqjjadron 
First  Lieutenant  Edward  Fenway,  A.  S.,  Commanding,  Adjutant  Field  2 
First  Lieutenant  Jacob  S.  Yerger,  A.  S.,  Adjutant 
First  Lieutenant  George  W.  Forrester,  A.  S.,  0. 1.  C.  Field  1 


254  APPENDIX 

First  Lieutenant  Henry  L.  Badham,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  2 
First  Lieutenant  Gerald  C.  Bishop,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  2 
First  Lieutenant  William  E.  Cameron,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  1 
First  Lieutenant  Harry  O.  Fishel,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  2 
First  Lieutenant  Irvin  J.  Higgins,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  1 
First  Lieutenant  Frederick  W.  Horton,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  2 
First  Lieutenant  Charles  R.  Mackan,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  2 
First  Lieutenant  Walter  W.  Randolph,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  2 
First  Lieutenant  George  E.  Smith,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  2 
First  Lieutenant  Gerritt  V.  Weston,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  2 
First  Lieutenant  James  R.  Worthington,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  2 
First  Lieutenant  Charles  P.  Maloney,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  2 
Second  Lieutenant  Russell  C.  Gates,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  2 
Second  Lieutenant  Russell  Gomes,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  2 
Second  Lieutenant  Howard  B.  Hankey,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  2 
Second  Lieutenant  John  Q.  Kiler,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  1 
Second  Lieutenant  Rodman  B.  Montgomery,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  2 
Second  Lieutenant  John  H.  Thompson,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  2 
Second  Lieutenant  Franklin  H.  Devitt,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  1 
Second  Lieutenant  John  B.  Swen,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  2 
Second  Lieutenant  John  P.  Morris,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  2 
Second  Lieutenant  Lyle  C.  Smith,  A.  S.,  Moniteur  Field  2 
Second  Lieutenant  Orah  G.  Douglas,  A.  S.,  Supply  Officer  Field  2 

802d  Aero  Sqjjadron 

Captain  Oliver  B.  Wyman,  A.  S.,  Commanding,  Adjutant  Main  Bar- 
racks Division,  Trial  Judge  Advocate,  General  Court-Martial 

First  Lieutenant  Lee  F.  Lanham,  A.  S. ,  0. 1.  C.  Telephone  and  Telegraph 
System 

Second  Lieutenant  James  O.  Craig,  A.  S.,  Duty  with  Engineering  De- 
partment 

Second  Lieutenant  Murchie  R.  Thomas,  A.  S.,  Duty  with  Maintenance  De- 
partment 

1104th  Replacement  Sojjadron 
First  Lieutenant  Oris  P.  Embleton,  A.  S.,  Commanding 
Second  Lieutenant  William  M.  Reck,  A.  S.,  Duty  with  Maintenance  De- 
partment 


APPENDIX  255 

Second  Lieutenant  Robert  N.  Landreth,  A.  S.,  Duty  with  Aero  Supply 

Second  Lieutenant  H.  P.  McLaughlin,  A.  S. 

Second  Lieutenant  James  B.  Doles,  Engineers ;  0. 1.  C.  Railroad  System 

1st  Company,  2d  Regiment,  Air  Service  Mechanics 

Captain  Charles  W.  Babcock,  A.S.,  Commanding,  0.1.  C.  Machine 
Shops 

3d  Company,  2d  Regiment,  Air  Service  Mechanics 

Captain  Oakley  Bolton,  S.  C,  Commanding 

First  Lieutenant  Otto  H.  Lambrix,  A.  S.,  Assistant  0. 1.  C.  Machine 
Shops 

12th  Company,  3d  Regiment,  Air  Service  Mechanics 

Captain  Robert  P.  Oldham,  A.  S.,  Commanding 

Second  Lieutenant  Frank  R.  Meyer,  A.  S.,  Duty  ivith  Engineering  De- 
partment 

13th  Company,  3d  Regiment,  Air  Service  Mechanics 
Captain  Albert  Roberts,  S.  C. ,  Commanding,  Inspector  Outlying  Melds 
First  Lieutenant  Mathias  P.  Molburg,  A.  S.,  Company  Duty 

11th  Company,  4th  Regiment,  Air  Service  Mechanics 
Captain  Frank  Ondricek,  S.  C. ,  Commanding,  Labor  Officer  Third  A.  I.  C. 
Second  Lieutenant  Earnest  Young,  A.  S.,  On  Detached  Service 

12th  Company,  4th  Regiment,  Air  Service  Mechanics 

Captain  Frank  Connell,  S.  C,  Commanding 

First  Lieutenant  George  O.  Reynolds,  A.  S.,Duty  ivith  Engineering  De- 
partment 

Second  Lieutenant  Elisha  C.  Howes,  Jr.,  A.  S.,  Assistant  Maintenance 
Officer 

13th  Company,  4th  Regiment,  Air  Service  Mechanics 
First  Lieutenant  John  F.  Bligh,  F.  A.,  Commanding 
First  Lieutenant  Harley  F.  McCurdy,  A.  S.,  Assistant  Adjutant  Main 

Barracks  Division 
Second  Lieutenant  Henry  F.  Hauserman,  A.  S.,  Athletic  Officer,  Third 

A.  I.  C. 


256  APPENDIX 

14th  Company,  4th  Regiment,  Air  Service  Mechanics 
Captain  Robert  A.  Nelson,  S.  C,  Commanding 
Second  Lieutenant  Donald  B.  Regester,  A.  S.,  Company  Duty 

Headquarters  Detachment 
Major  Howard  S.  Curry,  A.  S.,  Commanding 
Captain  Charles  A.  Hill,  A.  S.,  Executive  Officer 
Captain  Arthur  E.  Simonin,  A.  S.,  Duty  with  Training  Department 
First  Lieutenant  Thomas  A.  Flaherty,  A.  S.,  Duty  with  Engineering  De- 
partment 
First  Lieutenant  Bradford  B.  Locke,  A.  S.,  Adjutant 
First  Lieutenant  Raymond  L.  Suppes,  A.  S.,  Garden  Officer 
First  Lieutenant  Edwin  T.  Macbride,  A.  S. ,  Duty  with  Training  Depart- 
ment 
First  Lieutenant  Merrill  T.  Miller,  A.  S.,  Duty  with  Engineering  De- 
partment 
First  Lieutenant  John  J.  Lyons,  A.  S.,  Duty  with  Aerial  Gunnery  De- 
partment 
First  Lieutenant  Lyman  G.  Vollentine,  A.  S.,  Duty  with  Maintenance 

Department 
First  Lieutenant  Charles  E.  Branshaw,  A.  S.,  Duty  with  Q.  M.  C. 
First  Lieutenant  Robert  L.  Richardson,  A.  S.,  Duty  with  Q.  M.  C. 
First  Lieutenant  Russell  L.  Duval,  A.  S.,  Headquarters  Detachment  Per- 
sonnel Officer 
First  Lieutenant  Frank  G.  Dennison,  A.  S.,  Duty  with  Engineering  De- 
partment 
First  Lieutenant  Frank  E.  Martin,  A.  S.,  0. 1.  C.  Assembly 
First  Lieutenant  Irving  S.  Morange,  A.  S.,  Instructor  at  Field  10 
First  Lieutenant  Thomas  O.  Dye,  A.  S.,  Duty  with  Training  Department 
First  Lieutenant  Charles  R.  Knox,  A.  S.,  Duty  with  Aerial  Gunnery  De- 
partment^ Instructor 
First  Lieutenant  Rex  F.  Gilmartin,  A.  S.,  Duty  with  Engineering  De- 
partment 
First  Lieutenant  John  Willard,  A.  S.,  Unassigned 
First  Lieutenant  A.  H.  Young,  A.  S.,  Unassigned 
Second  Lieutenant  Ben  A.  Calhoun,  A.  S.,  Duty  with  Aero  Supply 
Second  Lieutenant  George  A.  Dooley,  A.  S. ,  Duty  with  Maintenance  De- 
partment 


APPENDIX  257 

Second  Lieutenant  S.  V.  Trent,  A.  S.,  Duty  with  Engineering  Depart- 
ment 

Second  Lieutenant  Marius  Rocle,  A.  S.,  Claims  Officer,  Third  A.  I.  C. 
Second  Lieutenant  Edward  M.  Riggs,  A.  S.,Duty  with  Engineering  De- 
partment 

Second  Lieutenant  Frederick  H.  Mead,  A.  S.,  Duty  at  Field  12 

Second  Lieutenant  Gordon  W.  Clark,  A.  S.,  Duty  with  Information  Offi- 
cer 

Second  Lieutenant  Harold  F.  Rouse,  A.  S.,  Duty  with  Personnel  Officer 
Second  Lieutenant  Samuel  S.  Stevens,  A.  S. ,  Intelligence  Officer,  Third 
A.  I.  C. 

Second  Lieutenant  Frank  C.  Brigham,  A.  S.,  Headquarters  Detachment 
Personnel  Officer 

Second  Lieutenant  Adrian  Cote,  A.  S.,  Athletic  Officer 

Second  Lieutenant  Theodore  Jefferson,  A.  S.,  Detachment  Supply  Officer 

Second  Lieutenant  George  N.  Lockridge,  A.  S.,  Assistant  Adjutant 

Second  Lieutenant  R.  H.  George,  A.  S.,  Gosport  Instructor 

Second  Lieutenant  A.  N.  Burkholder,  A.  S.,  Gosport  Instructor 

Second  Lieutenant  Davenport  Pogue,  A.  S.,  Gosport  Instructor 

Second  Lieutenant  W.  F.  Rittman,  A.  S.,  Avro  Instructor 

70th  Prisoner  of  War  Escort  Company 
Captain  Alonzo  Pelham,  C.  A.  C,  Commanding 
First  Lieutenant  L.  W.  Bowman,  Infantry,  Supply  Officer 

Company  E,  26th  Engineers 
First  Lieutenant  D.  W.  Blakeslee,  Engineers,  Commanding 

Headquarters  Detachment,  128th  Engineers 
Major  LeRoy  H.  Byam,  Engineers,  Commanding,  Maintenance  Officer 
Captain  Fred  B.  Dawes,  Engineers,  Adjutant 

Company  A,  128th  Engineers 
Second  Lieutenant  Clinton  A.  Bushong,  Engineers,  Commanding 
Second  Lieutenant  R.  W.  Young,  Engineers 

Company  B,  128th  Engineers 
Second  Lieutenant  Thaynes  Williams,  Engineers,  Commanding 


258  APPENDIX 

Company  B,  11th  U.  S.  Marines 

Major  Harry  K.  Pickett,  Marines,  Commanding,  Police  and  Prison  Offi- 
cer, Commanding  Main  Barracks  Division,  Member  Board  of  Investi- 
gation 

Captain  Joseph  C.  Bennett,  Marines,  Company  Duty 

First  Lieutenant  Merritt  A.  Edson,  Marines,  Company  Administration 

Second  Lieutenant  John  M.  McGregor,  Marines,  Officer  of  the  Day,  Com- 
pany Duty 

Second  Lieutenant  Miner  P.  Gross,  Marines,  Officer  of  the  Day ,  Company 
Duty 

Second  Lieutenant  Eldred  I.  Rawles,  Marines,  Officer  of  the  Day,  Com- 
pany Duty 

First  Lieutenant  Herbert  L.  Arnold,  Medical  Corps,  Duty  with  Camp 
Hospital 

Q.  M.  C.  Detachment 
Major  Charles  W.  Godfrey,  Q.  M.  C,  Depot  Quartermaster 
Captain  Charles  A.  LaSalle,  Q.  M.  C,  Disbursing  Officer 
First  Lieutenant  Charles  M.  Stivers,  Q.  M.  C,  0. 1.  C.  Subsistence 
Second  Lieutenant  William  J.  Cotty,  Q.  M.  C. ,  Commanding  Bakery  De- 
tachment No.  334 
Second  Lieutenant  Milton  Marks,  Q.  M.  C,  Officer  in  Charge  C.  &E. 
Second  Lieutenant  George  Beyer,  Q.  M.  C,  Assistant  to  D.   Q.  M. 

{Finance) 
Second  Lieutenant  Oswald  F.  Stremmel,  Jr.,  Q.  M.C.,  Assistant  to 

D.  Q.  M. 
Second  Lieutenant  J.  H.  Neal,  Q.  M.  C,  Assistant  to  D.  Q.  M. 
Second  lieutenant  I.  C.  Rosenthal,  Q.  M.  C,  Commanding  Detachment 
Company  B  345th  Labor  Bn. 

Medical  Detachment,  Camp  Hospital  No.  14 
Major  William  G.  Noe,  M.  C,  Commanding,  Surgeon 
Major  Everett  G.  Brownell,  M.  C,  G.-U.  Specialist 
Major  John  J.  McKenna,  M.  C,  X-Ray  Specialist 
Captain  Herbert  N.  Barnett,  M.  C,  Adjutant 
Captain  Charles  F.  Clayton,  M.  C,  Surgeon 
Captain  James  R.  Earle,  M.  C,  Surgical,  Nose  and  Throat 
Captain  Waldo  C.  Farnham,  M.  C.,Duty  at  Field  9 
Captain  Alston  Fitts,  M.  C,  Medical 


APPENDIX  259 

Captain  Charles  D.  High,  M.  C,  Duty  at  Field  5 
Captain  Harry  V.  Jackson,  M.  C.,Duty  at  Field  8 
Captain  Joseph  L.  McLaughlin,  M.  C,  Medical 
Captain  Percy  D.  Moulton,  M.  C,  Duty  at  Field  7 
Captain  Eugene  Palmore,  M.  C,  Medical 
Captain  George  A.  Stevens,  M.  C,  Bacteriologist 
First  Lieutenant  James  W.  Allbritain,  M.  C.,Duty  at  Field  14 
First  Lieutenant  Morris  Auslander,  M.  C,  Medical 
First  Lieutenant  Leon  J.  Barber,  M.  C,  Surgeon 
First  Lieutenant  Joseph  A.  Belott,  M.  C.,Duty  at  Field  12 
First  Lieutenant  Charles  H.  Brownlee,  M.  C,  Pathologist 
First  Lieutenant  James  J.  Dickinson,  M.  C,  Ear,  Nose,  and  Throat 
First  Lieutenant  Sigurd  H.  Kraft,  M.  C,  Medical 
First  Lieutenant  Frank  R.  Nothnagle,  M.  C,  Surgical 
First  Lieutenant  Edgar  E.  Rice,  M.  C,  Surgeon 
First  Lieutenant  Clyde  R.  Van  Gundy,  M.  C,  Duty  at  Field  7 
First  Lieutenant  Sidney  J.  Vann,  M.  C.,Duty  at  Field  9 
First  Lieutenant  LeRoy  J.  Wheeler,  M.  C,  Medical 
First  Lieutenant  Robert  E.  Wilson,  M.  C,  Sanitary  Inspector 
First  Lieutenant  Ronald  E.  Esson,  M.  C,  Assistant  Adjutant 
First  Lieutenant  William  M.  Barron,  M.  C.,X-Ray 
First  Lieutenant  Adolph  Wood,  M.  C.,Duty  at  Field  2 
First  Lieutenant  Garland  M.  Herwood,  M.  C.,Duty  with  Medical  Re- 
search Unit  No.  1 
First  Lieutenant  Charles  R.  Farnham,  M.  C,  Surgeon 

Dental  Corps 
Captain  Austin  R.  Killian,  D.  C,  Dental 
First  Lieutenant  Joseph  A.  Schiller,  D.  C,  Dental 
First  Lieutenant  Elmer  Steiner,  D.  C,  Dental 

Medical  Research  Board 
Colonel  William  H.  Wilmer,  M.  C,  Commanding 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Leonard  G.  Rowntree,  M.  C,  Executive  Officer 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Henry  Horn,  M.  C. 
Major  James  L.  Whitney,  M.  C. 
Major  Edward  C.  Schneider,  M.  C. 


260  APPENDIX 

Major  Robert  R.  Hampton,  M.  C,  Flight  Surgeon,  Third  A.  I.  G. 

Major  William  C.  Meanor,  M.  C. 

Major  William  F.  Patton,  M.  C. 

Major  Robert  S.  McCombs,  M.  C. 

Major  Wilson  M.  Bassett,  M.  C. 

Captain  Eugene  Cary,  M.  C. 

Captain  Claude  T.  Uren,  M.  C. 

Captain  Floyd  C.  Dockeray,  Sn.  C. 

Captain  Conrad  Berens,  M.  C. 

Captain  Frank  M.  Hallock,  M.  C. 

Captain  Harold  F.  Pierce,  Sn.  C. 

First  Lieutenant  Wilbur  M.  Blackshare,  M.  C. 

First  Lieutenant  Harvey  W.  Kernan,  Sn.  C. 

First  Lieutenant  Prentice  Reeves,  Sn.  C. 

Second  Lieutenant  Harold  W.  Gregg,  Sn.  C. 


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